Piptatherum miliaceum (L.) Coss. subsp. miliaceum

Spice Detail In the field

Family: GRAMINEAE (POACEAE)

Genus: Piptatherum

Sinònims: Oryzopsis miliacea (L.) Asch. & Schweinf. subsp. miliacea

Catalan common name: Ripoll.

Province distribution: Balearic Islands.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera. Cabrera.

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones.

Characteristics: This Gramineae is very common the leeways of walkways and roadsides as well as abandoned fields, and often forms extensive communities, almost entirely of one species. The inflorescence is well branched, with many branches originating from the same point, each branch has many spike that hangout slightly. The entire of the inflorescence is very tenuous, almost transparent. It can be told apart from P. thomasii, which lives in the same places, as this latter species forms more that twenty branches from the nodes of each inflorescence, often sterile. Flowers during a larger part of the year, especially during the spring and fall.