''Melica stuckertii'', is a grass species in the family

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

that is endemic to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Description

The species is

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

and have short

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s. It culms are erected and are long. It eciliate membrane is long and is also lacerated. The leaf-blades are tubular, flat and are long by wide with its surface and margins being scabrous. The

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

itself is open, pyramidal, and is long. Both panicle axis and branches are scaberulous with solitary spikelets. The spikelets themselves are obovate and are long. They carry 1 fertile

floret This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

with it callus being glabrous. Fertile spikelets are pediceled, the pedicels of which are curved, ciliate, hairy, and filiform. Florets are diminished at the apex. Its

lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), a ...

have ciliated margins that have a hairy middle. It fertile lemma is chartaceous, lanceolate, and is long by wide. It sterile lemma though is truncate. The

glumes In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses (Poaceae) or the flowers of sedges (Cyperaceae). There are two other types of bracts in the spikelets of grasses: the lemma and ...

are all keelless but are different in size and texture. Lower glume is obovate and is long and 7-11 veined, while the upper one is lanceolate and is long and 5-7 veined. Lower glume also have an acute apex while the upper one have an obtuse one. The upper glumes have asperulous surface as well. Palea have asperulous surface and acute apex and is long and 2-veined. It also have ciliolate keels with fleshy, oblong, and truncate flowers that have 2

lodicule A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s, and grow together. They also long and have 3

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s which are long which have dark brown coloured

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s that are caryopsis, ellipsoid, and have an additional pericarp with linear hilum. They fruit length is .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13932717 serrana Endemic flora of Argentina Flora of South America Taxa named by Eduard Hackel