Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Melica subulata is a species of grass known by the common name Alaska oniongrass. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist habitat, often in forests. It is a main understory member of the Douglas-fir/Alaska oniongrass plant community, a rare plant association that occurs on the southern edge of Vancouver Island on the Strait of Georgia. This plant community once had a wider range, occurring also along the Puget Sound and in the Willamette Valley. This is a rhizomatous perennial grass with clustered onionlike corms at the base of each stem. It grows to a maximum height near 1.3 meters. The flower cluster is a narrow or spreading panicle of cylindrical, pointed spikelets which may be nearly 3 centimeters long.

Plant type

Grass

Size

3 - 4 ft Tall

Form

Upright

Growth rate

Moderate

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow

Flowering season

Spring

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade

Soil description

Adaptable, tolerant of sand, loam and clay.

Site type

Moist places

Plant communities

Mixed Evergreen Forest, Forest, Yellow Pine Forest

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 1 likely

Confirmed Likely

Rural Skipper

Ochlodes agricola