Muhlenbergia appressa
Muhlenbergia dumosa
appressed muhly, devil's-canyon muhly, spreading littleseed muhly
bamboo muhly
10-42 cm, erect or decumbent, much branched below;
internodes mostly scabrous, scabrous or hispidulous below the nodes.
100-300 cm tall, 3-6 mm thick, erect or ascending, woody below, branching at the middle and upper nodes, branches numerous, fascicled, and spreading;
internodes glabrous for most of their length, puberulent or glaucous below the nodes.
usually shorter than the internodes, flattened below, glabrous, scabridulous or smooth, striate;
ligules 1.5-3 mm, hyaline, acute, lacerate, with lateral lobes;
blades 1-5(7) cm long, 0.8-1.6(2) mm wide, flat or involute, scabrous abaxially, pubescent adaxially.
glabrous, enlarged and flattened basally, somewhat chartaceous;
ligules 0.2-0.6 mm, membranous, truncate;
blades of the branch leaves 1.2-8(12) cm long, 0.7-2.2 mm wide, flat or involute, glabrous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially;
blades of the cauline leaves, particularly the lower cauline leaves, absent or greatly reduced.
4-23 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, usually partially included in the subtending sheaths at maturity;
primary branches 20-45 mm, ascending, closely appressed;
pedicels 1-5 mm, appressed, scabrous;
disarticulation above the glumes.
numerous, terminal on the main culms and the branches, 1-4 cm long, 0.3-1.4 cm wide, lax, inconspicuous;
primary panicle branches appressed or loosely spreading up to 40° from the rachises;
pedicels 0.1-1.5 mm.
4-7.5 mm, borne singly.
2.2-3.1 mm, green or purplish.
1-2 mm, 1-veined, veins conspicuous, scabrous, and greenish basally, apices obtuse to subacute, often erose;
lemmas 4-6.2(7.5) mm, narrowly lanceolate, terete, mostly smooth, scabrous distally, hairy on the calluses and lower 1/4 of the margins, hairs 0.2-0.3 mm, whitish, lemma bodies not appearing 5-veined, apices acuminate, awned, awns 10-30 mm, straight, scabrous;
paleas 3.8-5.7(7) mm, narrowly lanceolate;
anthers 0.3-1.1 mm, purplish.
subequal, 1-1.7 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, acute to acuminate, occasionally mucronate, mucros to 0.5 mm;
lemmas 2.3-3.1 mm, lanceolate, appressed-pubescent on the calluses and lower portion of the margins, apices acuminate, awned, awns 1-5 mm, flexuous;
paleas 2.3-3.1 mm, narrowly lanceolate, appressed-pubescent basally, acuminate;
anthers 1.5-2 mm, purplish.
1.6-3 mm, narrowly fusiform, brownish to pinkish.
1.2-1.6 mm, fusiform, reddish-brown.
spikelets usually present in the axils of the lower leaves.
= unknown.
= 40.
Muhlenbergia appressa
Muhlenbergia dumosa
Muhlenbergia appressa grows in sandy drainages, canyon bottoms, rocky road cuts, and sandy slopes, at elevations of 20-1750 m. Its range extends from Arizona to Baja California, Mexico. It grows in gramma grasslands, oak-juniper woodlands, and chaparral associations.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Muhlenbergia dumosa grows on rocky slopes, canyon ledges, and cliffs, in areas protected from grazing animals in oak-pine and thorn-scrub forests and oak-gramma savannahs, at elevations of 600-1800 m, from Arizona to southern Mexico.
The bladeless cauline leaves and abundant branching from the middle and upper nodes make 'Bamboo Muhly' a very apt English name. North American Indians used it, after boiling, for chest and bowel ailments. It is native from southern Arizona to southern Mexico, but is also grown as an ornamental in the southwestern United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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