Muhlenbergia andina
Muhlenbergia torreyana
foxtail muhly
New Jersey muhly
25-85 cm tall, 0.9-1.7 mm thick, ascending;
internodes glabrous for most of their length, scabrous to strigose below the nodes.
30-75 cm, compressed and keeled;
internodes mostly glabrous, strigose on the keels and below the nodes.
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.
strigose on the keels, basal sheaths much shorter than those above;
ligules 0.3-1 mm, firm, truncate, ciliate;
blades 6-20 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, conduplicate, scabrous on both surfaces, tapering to a fine sharp point.
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.
10-28 cm long, 4-8 cm wide, cylindrical, open;
primary branches 3-10 cm long, 0.05-0.1 mm thick, capillary, diverging 30-40° from the rachises, never appearing fascicled;
pedicels 1.5-9 mm, usually longer than the spikelets.
2-4 mm.
1.1-2.2 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.
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, 1-2 mm, purplish, scabridulous, 1-veined, acute, unawned;
lemmas 1.1-2.2 mm, lanceolate, plumbeous, scabridulous, apices acute, unawned;
paleas 1-2.1 mm, lanceolate, scabridulous, acute;
anthers 1-1.4 mm, orange-yellow, turning purple at maturity.
0.9-1.1 mm, cylindrical, yellowish-brown.
about 1 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 20.
= unknown.
Muhlenbergia andina
Muhlenbergia torreyana
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 torreyana grows in perennially wet or moist, usually seasonally inundated habitats such as the sphagnous margins of shallow ponds and seasonally wet depressions, often within pine-oak or oak barrens and at elevations of 0-150 m. Kartesz and Meacham (1999) report that it appears to have been eliminated from New York, Delaware, and Georgia but that, in addition to the locations shown on the map, it grows in Maryland and New Jersey. Hitchcock (1951) reported that it grew in Kentucky, but no specimens documenting its presence there have been located. It is rare even in those states where it is still growing.
Morphologically, Muhlenbergia torreyana resembles the western M. asperifolia but differs in its strigose, strongly compressed, keeled culms and less strongly divergent panicle branches.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
KS Wildflowers, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
MD Biodiversity
