Milium effusum

Milium effusum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus: Milium
Species:
M. effusum
Binomial name
Milium effusum
Synonyms
List
    • Agrostis effusa Lam.
    • Alopecurus effusus Link ex Kunth nom. inval.
    • Decandolia effusa (Lam.) T.Bastard
    • Melica effusa (L.) Salisb.
    • Miliarium effusum (L.) Moench
    • Milium adscendens Roxb. nom. inval.
    • Milium confertum L.
    • Milium dubium Jacquem. ex Hook.f. nom. inval.
    • Milium nepalense Nees nom. inval.
    • Milium transsilvanicum Schur
    • Milium willdenowii Lojac.
    • Paspalum effusum (L.) Raspail

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".

Description

M. effusum is a shortly rhizomatous, nemoral-mesic 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. 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.

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.

Distribution

It can be found in the northern United States and Canada, and Europe, including Britain but excluding the Mediterranean, east to Siberia and the Himalayas.

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.

References

  1. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  2. ↑ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-1845337315.
  3. ↑ "Milium effusum in Chinese Plant Names @ efloras.org". efloras.org. Archived from the original on 2024-10-09. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
  4. ↑ "Michigan Natural Features Inventory". mnfi.anr.msu.edu. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
  5. ↑ 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, retrieved 2026-09-09
  6. ↑ "Milium effusum (millet grass): Go Botany". gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
  7. ↑ "Milium effusum (Wood Millet): Minnesota Wildflowers". www.minnesotawildflowers.info. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
  8. ↑ "Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora".
  9. ↑ "Milium effusum". United States Department of Agriculture. 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Plants for a Future".
  11. ↑ "RHS Plantfinder - Milium effusum 'Aureum'". Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  12. ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 64. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

Further reading