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sand muhly

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

(15)20-60 (70) cm, somewhat decumbent, 1 or more nodes exposed;

internodes hispidulous below the nodes.

Leaves

somewhat basally concentrated, most blades not reaching more than (1/4)1/2 of the plant height;

sheaths usually a little shorter than the internodes, not keeled, scabridulous, margins hyaline, basal sheaths rounded, not becoming spirally coiled when old;

ligules 2-9 mm, hyaline, acute, lacerate, often with lateral lobes;

blades 4-10(16) cm long, 1-2.2 mm wide, not arcuate, flat, folded, or involute, scabrous, often glaucous, midveins and margins not thickened, green.

Panicles

12-30 cm long, 5-20 cm wide, diffuse;

primary branches 1-10 cm, diverging 30-80° from the rachises, naked basally;

pedicels 1-4(6) mm.

Spikelets

2.5-4.2 mm.

Glumes

equal, 1.4-2.5 mm, 1-veined, apices scabridulous, acute to acuminate, minutely erose, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;

lemmas 2.5-4.2 mm, narrowly elliptic, usually purplish, scabrous distally, appressed-pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 3/4 of the margins and midveins, apices acuminate, awned, awns 0.5-4.2 mm;

paleas 2.5-3.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, intercostal region sparsely pubescent, apices acuminate, with 2 short (0.1-0.2 mm) awns;

anthers 1.5-2.1 mm, greenish.

Caryopses

1.9-2.3 mm, fusiform, brownish.

2n

= 80, 82.

Muhlenbergia arenicola

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; KS; NM; OK; TX
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Discussion

Muhlenbergia arenicola grows on sandy mesas, limestone benches, and in valleys and open desert grasslands, at elevations of 600-2135 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico. It also grows, as a disjunct, in northwestern Argentina.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 173.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia
Sibling taxa
M. andina, M. appressa, M. arenacea, 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
Name authority Buckley
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