Melica persica Kunth

Sinai (St.Katherine).

Perennial.

Melica persica s.l. comprises a perplexing complex of forms, extending from the E Mediterranean through C Asia. Variable characters include hairiness of the leaf sheaths and blades, angle of the leaf blades, panicle density, spikelet length and color, and the relative length of the glumes. A particularly hairy variant, present in Xizang, is recognized at subspecific rank here. The other Chinese records are based on plants described as having sparsely pubescent lemmas with ca. 1 mm hairs. This is atypical for M. persica s.s. and is also a big extension eastward from its known range. It has not been possible to confirm their identity.

In this account, Melica persica includes all species and subspecies to be found in Pakistan that were placed by Bor (1970) in his subsect. Pilosae of sect. Barbatae. The species comprises a complex of variants which are inseparable into distinct taxa using conventional herbarium taxonomic methods. The five species usually recognised (all occuring in Pakistan) were reduced to two species with five subspecies by Bor and are traditionally separated as follows:

Spikelets pallid, 9-11 mm long; lower glume a third to half as long as the upper; inflorescence dense, many-sided:

Sheaths hairy- persica subsp. persica

Sheaths glabrous- persica subsp. inaequiglumis

Spikelets purple, 6-7 mm ling; lower glume Half as long as upper or longer.

All sheaths glabrous- jacquemontii subsp. jacquemontii

Lower sheaths only hairy; underside of blade glabrous- jacquemontii subsp. hohenackeri

All sheaths hairy; underside of blade hairy - jacquemontii subsp. canescens

The two variables (length of spikelet and length of lower glume relative to length of spikelet) that are supposed to separate the two species are in fact continuous with neither showing any sign of bimodality. Furthermore, they vary independently, as do panicle density and spikelet colour. Any division of Melica persica on the basis of morphological characters is clearly untenable and the recognition of subspecies of the kind shown above is mostly worthless since the different elements are intermixed throughout the range of the species. The cytology of this group is largely unknown and may well repay investigation. It is probable that the European Melica cupani Guss. and the Russian Melica schischkinii Iljinsk. and Melica atropatana Schischk. should also be included in Melica persica.

The economic value of this grass is not known for certain. Stewart and Santapau report that it is, or may be, poisonous to stock while Helen Crookshank notes that it is heavily grazed. It is a plant of steep slopes and rocky places from 1500-4900 m. Fl. & Fr. Per.: May-June in the South, July-August in the North.

Perennial, forming dense tussocks, with wiry rhizomes. Culms 15–50 cm tall, ca. 1 mm in diam. Leaf sheaths glabrous, scabrid or retrorsely pubescent; leaf blades flat or rolled, 5–15 cm × 1–3 mm, glabrous to densely pubescent on one or both surfaces; ligule 0.5–5 mm. Panicle spikelike, 5–12 cm, lax and 1-sided to densely cylindrical. Spikelets gaping, 5–11 mm, pallid or purplish, fertile florets 1 or 2, terminal sterile lemmas gathered into globular cluster; lower glume broadly lanceolate, 1/3–3/4 length of upper, 3-veined, upper glume lanceolate, as long as spikelet, 5-veined, both acute; lemmas elliptic, lowest 4–7.5 mm, granular-scaberulous, 7–9-veined, densely hairy with 3–5 mm hairs along all veins, apex acute or 2-toothed, second lemma (when present) shorter, glabrous; palea keels shortly ciliolate. Anthers 1–1.8 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Aug. 2n = 18.

Rhizomatous perennial forming clumps up to 45 cm across; culms 15-50 cm high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades linear, 5-15 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat or inrolled, thin or fleshy, pubescent to glabrous; ligule obtuse to truncate, 0.5-3 (-4.5) mm long, sometimes early deciduous, especially from plants with fleshy, pubescent leaves; sheaths glabrous, scaberulous or retrorsely pubescent. Panicle 3.5-12 cm long, spike-like, few-branched and secund to many-branched and cylindrical. Spikelets gaping, 5.5-10 mm long, pallid or lightly to deeply suffused with purple, with 1-2 fertile florets; lower glume broadly ovate, acute, 2.5-6.5 mm long, a third to three-quarters the length of the upper; upper glume lanceolate, acute, as long as the spikelet; lower fertile lemma elliptic, 4-7.5 mm long, acute, strongly 7-9-nerved, the dorsal surface clothed with tubercle-based hairs 4-5 mm long; second fertile lemma (where present) shorter than the first, glabrous.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan, N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); throughout the Middle East from Turkey to Afghanistan; Northwest India; southern Russia; pro¬bably also Europe in the Mediterranean region.

Iran to N.W. India, Nepal.

4000 m

Grassy hillsides. Gansu, Jilin, Sichuan, W Xizang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; NE Africa (Egypt), SW Asia].

Melica persica is a species of grass that can be found in Central Asia, India, and in Gansu, Jilin, Sichuan provinces of China.