Melica
David Pilling via pbs (Thu, 01 Feb 2024 14:22:44 PST)

Hi,

I'm cross posting a message from the PBS forum, which may be of interest:

"My name is Mark Mullinger and I'm a Ph.D. student in Plant Biology at
the University of Vermont. I've been working on the grass genus Melica
for my thesis, and in particular I'm interested in species that are
bulbous and cormous.

At least six species of Melica found in North America are known to form
corms: M. bulbosa, M. fugax, M. geyeri, M. smithii, M. spectabilis, and
M. subulata. These species are sometimes commonly known as oniongrasses
(not to be confused with many Allium), and at least a few of them are
known to be edible.

I'm hoping to investigate the anatomy and evolutionary history of these
fascinating below-ground plant structures in Melica. To that end I need
your help! It's been difficult to locate any sources of corms or seed to
grow for my experiments. The only success I've had is finding seed of M.
geyeri from the USDA. However, I have yet to successfully germinate any
of these.

I'm looking for collaborators willing to volunteer their time in helping
me find corms or seed of these plants in the wild. All of them can be
found in Western North America, in particular northern California and
the Pacific Northwest. I'm hoping to visit the area this summer to make
some observations and collections of my own, though this is dependent on
being able to find some funding.

If this project sounds interesting to you and you'd like to get involved
please let me know and we can talk more about what might be possible.
I'm also happy to answer any questions and chat more about my project,
Melica, or other grass geophytes while I'm here.
"

Reply on the forum:

https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/…

--
David Pilling
http://www.davidpilling.com/
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