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GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Schizachne This is a genus of two species, with only one occurring in North America. The name is derived from the Greek words schizo, meaning split in reference to the lemma tip, and achne, meaning chaff.   Schizachne purpurascens (Torr.) Swallen False Melic Plant: Schizachne purpurascens is a native species that grows to 60-100 cm tall. It is a perennial with a reclining base, no rhizome and a long, drooping, purplish flowerhead. Leaves and Stem: The smooth, closed sheath has no auricles. The ligules are longest in the front and rarely over 1 mm long. The slightly roughened, flat leaf blades are 2-5 mm wide. Flowerhead and Flowers: The drooping, scarcely branched flowerhead is 10 cm long and has purplish four- to five-flowered spikelets. The upper one or two flowers are reduced to sterile lemmas. Purplish, membranelike glumes are shorter than the first lemma. The round-backed lemmas have teeth for 1/4 their length. The callus at the base of the lemma has hairs (3 mm long) that extend about half the length of the lemma. The slightly bent lemma awn is about equal to or slightly longer than the lemma. Habitat: False Melic grows on moist to dry, open forests in the montane zone, occuring at Yoho National Park and Waldo (now under Lake Koocanusa). Similar Species: False Melic resembles Nodding Trisetum (Trisetum cernuum), but False Melic lacks a sharp tip on the larger glume, and it has longer callus hairs.

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