Melica nutans

Family	Poaceae (alt. Gramineae)
Subfamily	Pooideae
Tribe	Meliceae
Scientific name	Melica nutans L.
Synonyms	Aira nutans (L.) Weber; Dalucum nutans (L.) Bubani; Melica grandiflora Koidzumi; Melica komarovii Lucznik; Melica nutans L. forma argyrolepis (Komarov) Kitagawa; Melica nutans L. subsp. grandiflora (Koidzumi) T. Koyama; Melica nutans L. var. argyrolepis Komarov; Melica grandiflora Koidzumi; Melica montana Hudson; Melica nutans L. var. argyrolepis Komarov; Melica nutans L. var. caespitosa Stanck ex Podpera; Melica nutans L. var. multiflora Blytt; Melica picta C. Koch; Poa nutans (L.) Clairville
Common name	(Japanese common name) kome-gaya (コメガヤ, 米萱 [meaning: rice sedge]), ao-kome-gaya (アオコメガヤ, 青米萱 [meaning: green rice sedge])
	(English common name) mountain melic grass, pearlgrass
Distribution	(Japan) Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu
	(Other nations) Russia, Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Caucasus, Europe
Habitat	Mountane field
Chromosomal number	2n=18
Description	Culms 30-50cm tall. Leaves 5-20cm long, 2-5mm wide. Flowers inflorescences 6-15cm long, 5-13 spikelets 6-8mm long, pale purple or pale green, flowering in May to July. Perennial plants.
Reference	Melica nutans L.
	Melica nutans Linnaeus
	Large-scale geographic patterns of genetic variation in Melica nutans, a widespread Eurasian woodland grass
	Methods of creating dwarf phenotypes in plants (WIPO Patent WO/2002/008411)
Note	Some authors have identified pale green color spikelets type plant as Melica nutans L. subsp. grandiflora (Koidzumi) T. Koyama (syn. Melica grandiflora Koidzumi; Melica komarovii Lucznik; Melica nutans L. subsp. grandiflora (Koidzumi) T. Koyama: Japanese common name is ao-kome-gaya).

May 2009 at Karuizawa Botanical Garden	May 2009 at Karuizawa Botanical Garden	May 2009 at Karuizawa Botanical Garden

June 2008 at Nikko Botanical Garden	June 2008 at Nikko Botanical Garden	June 2008 at Nikko Botanical Garden