Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Melica altissima; photograph (c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-15

Melica altissima L.

Siberian melicgrass; Tall melic; Narrow melicgrass; Siberian melic

Poaceae · Austria, Czechoslovakia +23

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Melica altissima, photograph (c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melica altissima, photograph (c) Анна Митрошенкова, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melica altissima, photograph (c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melica altissima, photograph (c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melica altissima, photograph (c) Stanislav Murashkin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melica altissima, photograph (c) Stanislav Murashkin, some rights reserved (CC BY) 62 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-26.0°C
Record low -39.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
556mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Melica altissima, commonly known as Siberian melic grass or dark purple Siberian melic, is a species of plant in the grass family, Poaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Melica altissima", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (415 mm of 556 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 28.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

556 mm in the median year at the habitat, 415 mm of it May to December. Wettest month June at 67 mm, driest months (2 at 33 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 467 mm to 743 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 556 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 556 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -26.0 °C, the absolute minimum -39.1 °C, 7,359 frost nights in 44 years, 167.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -10.5 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -17.5 °C to -4.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -26.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -58 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Melica altissima through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low -10.5 °C; 556 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-60°-40°-20°0°20°40°frost28.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-39.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 4–38RH 54–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 603 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-5 / -10–1-5 / -9–22 / -2–712 / 8–1519 / 16–2123 / 21–2525 / 23–2724 / 21–2718 / 15–2110 / 7–142 / -3–7-3 / -8–2
Night °C-10 / -19–-5-11 / -18–-5-6 / -11–-12 / -3–59 / 4–1114 / 10–1516 / 13–1715 / 11–1710 / 5–123 / -1–6-3 / -10–1-8 / -16–-4
Rain mm39 / 24–4833 / 21–4233 / 24–4436 / 29–5745 / 38–8167 / 49–9266 / 52–10451 / 34–8152 / 40–6545 / 34–6546 / 35–6043 / 31–56
DLI6 / 5–812 / 10–1420 / 19–2428 / 27–3236 / 34–3838 / 36–4037 / 35–3931 / 28–3422 / 18–2412 / 10–156 / 5–94 / 3–6
RH %70 / 62–7468 / 61–7263 / 58–6657 / 55–5854 / 52–5656 / 53–5856 / 54–5956 / 52–6057 / 55–6061 / 58–6366 / 60–6869 / 62–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 603 grid cells holding the 850 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 712:4323 (54.375, 36.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -39.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -26.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 603 distinct grid cells holding 850 of the 850 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 712:4323 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 54.50_36.250, lapse-corrected -58 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 134 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAustria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Krasnoyarsk, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey, Xinjiang · introduced: Germany, Poland, Italy, Ontario, Oklahoma, New York · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker50.74, 40.292 · in the densest population, 183 records (15% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or rhizomatous geophyte” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1201 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 850 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 692 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 121 km away. 148 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 351 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1201 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Melica altissima, photograph 1did not loadMelica altissima, photograph 2did not loadMelica altissima, photograph 3did not loadMelica altissima, photograph 4did not loadMelica altissima, photograph 5did not loadMelica altissima, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Сергей Голубев, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Анна Митрошенкова, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Stanislav Murashkin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Atriplex tatarica Atriplex tatarica Tatarian orache Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевSalix vinogradovii Salix vinogradovii Salicaceae Photo: CC BY, Stanislav MurashkinBromus riparius Bromus riparius Meadow brome Photo: CC BY, Stanislav MurashkinLycopus exaltatus Lycopus exaltatus Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Oleksandr ShynderNonea pulla Nonea pulla Brown Nonea Photo: CC0, author not statedFritillaria ruthenica Fritillaria ruthenica Lesser Altaic Fritillary Photo: CC BY, Oleksandr Shynder

Other Melica 15 in the reference

Melica amethystina Melica amethystina Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Franck CabotMelica californica Melica californica California melic Photo: CC BY, Adam J. SearcyMelica ciliata Melica ciliata Ciliate melic Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardMelica imperfecta Melica imperfecta California melic Photo: CC BY, Jonas KatonaMelica minuta Melica minuta Small Melick Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaMelica montezumae Melica montezumae Montezuma Melic Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew Malilay WhiteMelica mutica Melica mutica Two-flower melic Photo: CC BY, Emily SummerbellMelica nitens Melica nitens Three-flower melic Photo: CC0, author not statedMelica nutans Melica nutans Mountain melick Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевMelica persica Melica persica Persian Melic Grass Photo: CC BY, yelena_antipovaMelica picta Melica picta Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Tatyana SovaMelica subulata Melica subulata Alaska oniongrass Photo: CC BY, humon all 16 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Melica altissima var. atropurpurea; Melica altissima var. interrupta; Melica sibirica. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Poaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary +22
Wild records
1201 in range · 692 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 64 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (52 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 10 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 54.50_36.250, lapse-corrected -58 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 102 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…