Biology:Milium effusum
| Milium effusum | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Pooideae |
| Genus: | Milium |
| Species: | M. effusum
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| Binomial name | |
| Milium effusum | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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List
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Milium effusum, the American milletgrass or wood millet, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to damp forests of the Holarctic Kingdom.
The Latin specific epithet effusum means "spreading loosely".[2]
Description
M. effusum is a shortly rhizomatous,[3] nemoral-mesic[4][5] grass with an open panicle. The spikelets are about 2.5-5mm long, pedicellate, with no awn on the glume(s) or lemma, and only one fertile floret. The leaves are approximately 5-17mm wide and hairless. The ligule is roughly 3-10mm and membranous.[6][7] The plant is rare in its southernmost range, as a secure species only in Ontario, Novia Scotia, and New Brunswick, ranging in vulnerability outside of its secure area in its natural range.[1]
Habitat
Milium effusum inhabits damp, deciduous woods and shaded banks, where it grows on winter-wet, calcareous to mildly acidic clay and loam soils, and also over rocks in western Scotland.[8]
Distribution
It can be found in the northern United States and Canada,[9] and Europe, including Britain but excluding the Mediterranean, east to Siberia and the Himalayas.[10]
Cultivation
The yellow-leaved cultivar 'Aureum', known as Bowles' golden grass, is cultivated as an ornamental garden plant, and in the UK has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[11][12]
Gallery
References
- ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-424434.
- ↑ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-1845337315.
- ↑ "Milium effusum in Chinese Plant Names @ efloras.org". http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=3&taxon_id=200025709.
- ↑ "Michigan Natural Features Inventory". https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/communities/description/10684/mesic-southern-forest.
- ↑ Смирнова, Ольга; Kalyakin, V.; Turubanova, Svetlana; Bobrovsky, Maxim; Khanina, Larisa (2017-01-01), Development of the European Russian Forests in the Holocene, pp. 515–536, doi:10.1007/978-94-024-1172-0_8, ISBN 978-94-024-1171-3, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323960889_Development_of_the_European_Russian_Forests_in_the_Holocene, retrieved 2026-09-09
- ↑ "Milium effusum (millet grass): Go Botany". https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/milium/effusum/.
- ↑ "Milium effusum (Wood Millet): Minnesota Wildflowers" (in en). https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/grass-sedge-rush/wood-millet.
- ↑ "Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora". https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/index.php?q=plant/milium-effusum.
- ↑ "Milium effusum". United States Department of Agriculture. 2009. https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MIEF.
- ↑ "Plants for a Future". https://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Milium+effusum.
- ↑ "RHS Plantfinder - Milium effusum 'Aureum'". https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/91154/i-Milium-effusum-i-Aureum/Details.
- ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental". Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 64. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf.
Further reading
- P. de Frenne et al. Biological Flora of the British Isles: Milium effusum, Journal of Ecology, 2017, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12744. Detailed overview of all aspects relevant to ecology and behaviour.
Wikidata ☰ Q158963 entry
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