Colorful pearl grass

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Colorful pearl grass
Colorful pearl grass (Melica picta)

Colorful pearl grass ( Melica picta )

Systematics
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Subfamily : Pooideae
Genre : Pearl grass ( Melica )
Type : Colorful pearl grass
Scientific name
Melica picta
K. Koch

The colorful pearl grass ( Melica picta ) is a member of the sweet grass (Poaceae) that is rarely found in Central Europe . It is closely related to the nodding pearl grass ( Melica nutans ) which is widespread and mostly common in Central Europe . It differs from this among other things by a longer ligule ("ligula"), the clumpy growth and the gray-green habit.

description

The perennial herbaceous plant reaches a height of about 30 to 60 cm and grows in dense lawns. It has no runners . The stalk is thin, about 1 to 2 mm thick, somewhat limp and not very rough. The flat stem leaves are relatively light and a little gray-green in color. Sometimes they are absent-mindedly hairy. They reach a length of about 15 cm and a width of 5 mm. The lower leaf sheaths are covered in amethyst color. The ligule is whitish in color and reaches a length of up to 2.5 mm.

The arm-flowered grape , which is slightly panicle-shaped in the lower part , usually consists of 10 to 12  spikelets . It reaches a length of barely 10 cm. The nodding spikelets sit on short, about 5 to 10 mm long stalks. They reach a length of about 7 to 8 mm and are usually two-flowered. The husks are about the same length as the obovate spikelets and are usually greenish in color. At the edge they are white-skinned and often have a reddish-purple spot or stripe on the base or in front of the edge. The lemmas are rather thick, glabrous, blunt, have no awns , are arched, shiny and indistinctly five-nerved. They are dry-skinned at the top.

The colorful pearl grass, which owes its name to the shiny, pearl-like spikelets lined up like a string, flowers mainly in May and June.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.

Occurrence

The colorful pearl grass is a temperate continental-east sub-Mediterranean floral element. Its distribution ranges from the Caucasus through southern Russia to south-east and central Europe. It also occurs as a heat season relic in southern Finland.

In Central Europe, the colorful pearl grass reaches the north-western limit of its distribution. In Germany, the species is mostly rare and scattered, with occurrence focuses on the northern edge of the Harz, in the Thuringian Basin , in Lower Franconia and in the Swabian and Franconian Alb . In Austria, where the species occurs in Burgenland , Lower Austria , Vienna and Styria , the colorful pearl grass is endangered. In Switzerland it is completely absent.

Melica picta grows in dry and steppe forest communities . It occurs in mixed deciduous forests and oak bushes. It prefers moderately fresh, loamy or clayey soils. It is a character species of the Potentillo albae-Quercetum from the association Potentillo albae-Quercetum petraeae, but also occurs in the Galio-Carpinetum.

  • Melica picta ( herbarium evidence )

  • Melica picta , ligule (herbarium)

  • Melica nutans , ligule (herbarium)

swell

  • Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald, Raimund Fischer: Excursion flora of Austria . Ed .: Manfred A. Fischer. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-8001-3461-6 .
  • Christian Heitz: School and excursion flora for Switzerland. Taking into account the border areas. Identification book for wild growing vascular plants . Founded by August Binz. 18th completely revised and expanded edition. Schwabe & Co., Basel 1986, ISBN 3-7965-0832-4 .
  • Konrad von Weihe (ed.): Illustrated flora. Germany and neighboring areas. Vascular cryptogams and flowering plants . Founded by August Garcke. 23rd edition. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-489-68034-0 .
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . With the collaboration of Theo Müller. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1990, ISBN 3-8001-3454-3 .
  • Hans Joachim Conert: Melica. In: Hans Joachim Conert (ed.): Illustrated flora of Central Europe . Founded by Gustav Hegi. 3rd, completely revised edition. Volume I. Part 3: Spermatophyta: Angiospermae: Monocotyledones 1 (2). Poaceae (real grasses or sweet grasses) . Parey Buchverlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-8263-2868-X , p. 465–466 (published in deliveries 1979–1998 6th delivery, 1992).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 229.
  2. ↑ Werner Hempel : Revision and phylogeny of the species of the genus Melica L. (Poaceae) in Eurasia and North Africa. In: Fedde's repertory. Volume 122, No. 1–2, pp. 1–253, DOI: 10.1002 / fedr.201100029 .

Web links

Commons : Buntes Perlgras ( Melica picta )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files