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alkali muhly, scratchgrass

wirestem muhly

Habit Plants perennial, 10–60(100) cm tall; rhizomatous, occasionally stoloniferous. Plants perennial, 30–90 cm tall; rhizomatous.
Culms

with bases somewhat compressed-keeled;

internodes glabrous; shiny below the nodes.

0.5–2 mm thick; much branched above the base, not nodulose;

internodes dull, puberulent or glabrous for most of their length, sometimes strigose immediately below the nodes.

Leaves

blades 2–7(11) cm × 1–2.8(4)mm; flat, occasionally conduplicate;

lower surface smooth or minutely scabrous;

upper surface minutely scabrous;

margins and midveins not conspicuously thickened; greenish;

tips acute.

blades 2–20 cm × 2–6 mm; flat, scabrous or smooth, those of the secondary branches similar in length and width to those of the main branches.

Inflorescences

6–21 × 4–16 cm, broadly ovoid; open;

branches whitish;

primary branches 3–12 cm × 0.05–0.1 mm; capillary; lower branches spreading, not appearing clustered;

pedicels 3–14 mm; longer than the spikelets.

terminal and axillary, 2–21 × 0.3–3 cm; dense, appressed or diverging up to 30° from the inflorescence axis;

primary branches 0.3–5.5 cm × over 0.1 mm.

Spikelets

1.2–2.1 mm.

1.5–3.8 mm, often purple-tinged.

Glumes

equal, 0.6–1.7 mm, 1-veined; purplish, minutely scabrous particularly on the veins;

tips acute.

subequal, 1.5–3.7 mm, approximately as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined, tapering from the bases to the acuminate tips; awnless or awned; awns; if present; to 2 mm.

Lemmas

1.2–2.1 mm, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic; somewhat gray, glabrous; smooth, occasionally minutely scabrous near the tips;

tips acute; awnless or mucronate; the mucros to 0.3 mm.

1.5–3.8 mm, lanceolate, pubescent on calluses and lower portion of the midveins and margins;

hairs shorter than the florets; less than 1.5 mm long;

tips minutely scabrous, acuminate; awnless or awned;

lemma awns 0–10 mm.

Anthers

1–1.3 mm; greenish yellow to purplish at maturity.

0.3–0.5 mm; yellowish to purplish.

2n

=20, 22, 28.

=40.

Muhlenbergia asperifolia

Muhlenbergia mexicana

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Moist, alkaline meadows. 100–1500m. BR, BW, Col, ECas, Lava, Owy. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to British Columbia, northeast to Ontario, southeast to TX, south to Mexico. Native.

Throughout North America. 2 varieties.

Muhlenbergia mexicana flowers relatively late in summer after river levels drop. It is seldom collected. The similar M. andina has lemma hairs about as long as the lemma body.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 435
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 435
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Sibling taxa
M. andina, M. filiformis, M. mexicana, M. minutissima, M. richardsonis, M. uniflora
M. andina, M. asperifolia, M. filiformis, M. mexicana, M. minutissima, M. richardsonis, M. uniflora
Subordinate taxa
M. mexicana var. filiformis, M. mexicana var. mexicana
Synonyms Sporobolus asperifolius Muhlenbergia glomerata, Muhlenbergia racemosa
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