The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

foxtail muhly

marshland muhly

Habit Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. Plants annual; delicate.
Culms

25-85 cm tall, 0.9-1.7 mm thick, ascending;

internodes glabrous for most of their length, scabrous to strigose below the nodes.

12-50 cm, erect to geniculate;

internodes mostly glabrous and smooth or scabridulous, scabridulous or strigulose below the nodes.

Sheaths

scabridulous, especially basally;

ligules 0.5-1.5 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate to ciliate;

blades 4-16 cm long, 2-4(5) mm wide, flat, scabrous abaxially, pubescent adaxially.

usually longer than the internodes, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous;

ligules 1.5-3.1 mm, hyaline, truncate to obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate, with lateral lobes that exceed the central portion;

blades 2-8.5 cm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, flat, sometimes involute, scabridulous abaxially, shortly pubescent to minutely villous adaxially, midveins prominent abaxially.

Panicles

2-15 cm long, 0.5-2.8 cm wide, contracted, dense;

primary branches 0.5-5 cm, appressed to strongly ascending;

pedicels 0.5-1.5 mm, appressed, strigose.

10-26 cm long, 2.8-8 cm wide;

primary branches 2.6-7 cm, often capillary, diverging 25-80° from the rachises;

pedicels 4-7 mm, usually curved, often through 90° or more.

Spikelets

2-4 mm.

1.4-2 mm.

Glumes

equal to subequal, 2-4 mm, subequal to or longer than the florets, 1-veined, veins scabridulous, apices acuminate to awn-tipped;

lemmas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, grayish-green, hairy on the calluses and lemma bases, hairs 2-3.5 mm, apices acuminate, awned, awns 1-10 mm;

paleas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, bases with silky hairs between the veins, apices acuminate;

anthers 0.4-1.5 mm, yellow.

equal, 0.7-1.2 mm, usually conspicuously strigulose, particularly near the margins and apices, 1-veined, acute to obtuse, unawned;

lemmas 1.4-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, greenish, sometimes purplish-tinged, shortly appressed-pubescent on the midveins and margins, apices acute or obtuse, unawned;

paleas 1.3-1.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, intercostal region sparsely short-pilose or glabrous;

anthers 0.6-1.2 mm, olivaceous.

Caryopses

0.9-1.1 mm, cylindrical, yellowish-brown.

0.8-1.2 mm, fusiform, brownish.

2n

= 20.

= 20, 24.

Muhlenbergia andina

Muhlenbergia sinuosa

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WA; WY; BC; MB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Muhlenbergia andina grows in damp places such as stream banks, gravel bars, marshes, lake margins, damp meadows, around springs, and in canyons, at elevations of 700-3000 m. It grows only in the western part of southern Canada and the contiguous United States.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Muhlenbergia sinuosa grows in sandy soil along washes, on open slopes and rocky ledges, and in roadside ditches, at elevations of 1650-2300 m. It is usually found in oak-pine forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands, oak-gramma savannahs, and riverine woodlands. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into northern Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 156. FNA vol. 25, p. 196.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia
Sibling taxa
M. appressa, M. arenacea, M. arenicola, M. arizonica, M. arsenei, M. asperifolia, M. brevis, M. bushii, M. californica, M. capillaris, M. crispiseta, M. curtifolia, M. cuspidata, M. depauperata, M. diversiglumis, M. dubia, M. dumosa, M. elongata, M. eludens, M. emersleyi, M. expansa, M. filiculmis, M. filiformis, M. fragilis, M. frondosa, M. glabrifloris, M. glauca, M. glomerata, M. jonesii, M. lindheimeri, M. longiligula, M. mexicana, M. microsperma, M. minutissima, M. montana, M. palmeri, M. pauciflora, M. pectinata, M. peruviana, M. polycaulis, M. porteri, M. pungens, M. racemosa, M. ramulosa, M. repens, M. reverchonii, M. richardsonis, M. rigens, M. rigida, M. schreberi, M. sericea, M. setifolia, M. sinuosa, M. sobolifera, M. spiciformis, M. straminea, M. sylvatica, M. tenuiflora, M. tenuifolia, M. texana, M. thurberi, M. torreyana, M. torreyi, M. uniflora, M. utilis, M. villiflora, M. wrightii, M. ×curtisetosa, M. ×involuta
M. andina, M. appressa, M. arenacea, M. arenicola, M. arizonica, M. arsenei, M. asperifolia, M. brevis, M. bushii, M. californica, M. capillaris, M. crispiseta, M. curtifolia, M. cuspidata, M. depauperata, M. diversiglumis, M. dubia, M. dumosa, M. elongata, M. eludens, M. emersleyi, M. expansa, M. filiculmis, M. filiformis, M. fragilis, M. frondosa, M. glabrifloris, M. glauca, M. glomerata, M. jonesii, M. lindheimeri, M. longiligula, M. mexicana, M. microsperma, M. minutissima, M. montana, M. palmeri, M. pauciflora, M. pectinata, M. peruviana, M. polycaulis, M. porteri, M. pungens, M. racemosa, M. ramulosa, M. repens, M. reverchonii, M. richardsonis, M. rigens, M. rigida, M. schreberi, M. sericea, M. setifolia, M. sobolifera, M. spiciformis, M. straminea, M. sylvatica, M. tenuiflora, M. tenuifolia, M. texana, M. thurberi, M. torreyana, M. torreyi, M. uniflora, M. utilis, M. villiflora, M. wrightii, M. ×curtisetosa, M. ×involuta
Name authority (Nutt.) Hitchc. Swallen
Web links