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alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass

bull muhly, bullgrass, Gooding's muhly

Habit Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose, occasionally: stoloniferous. Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

10-60(100) cm, decumbent-ascending, bases somewhat compressed-keeled;

internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.

(50)80-150 cm, stout, erect, not conspicuously branched;

internodes smooth for most of their length, smooth or scabridulous below the nodes.

Sheaths

glabrous, margins hyaline;

ligules 0.2-1 mm, firm, truncate, ciliate, without lateral lobes;

blades 2-7(11) cm long, 1-2.8(4) mm wide, flat, occasionally conduplicate, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins and midveins not conspicuously thickened, greenish, apices acute, not sharp.

shorter or longer than the internodes, glabrous or puberulent, basal sheaths laterally compressed, usually keeled;

ligules 10-25 mm, membranous throughout, acuminate, lacerate;

blades 20-50 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat or folded, scabrous abaxially, smooth or scabridulous adaxially.

Panicles

6-21 cm long, 4-16 cm wide, broadly ovoid, open;

primary branches 3-12 cm, capillary, lower branches spreading 30-90° from the rachises, never appearing fascicled;

pedicels 3-14 mm, longer than the spikelets.

20-45 cm long, 3-15 cm wide, loosely contracted to open, light purplish to light brownish;

primary branches 1-17 cm, lax, loosely appressed or diverging up to 70° from the rachises, naked basally;

pedicels 0.5-3 mm, smooth or scabridulous.

Spikelets

1.2-2.1 mm, occasionally with 2 or 3 florets.

2.2-3.2 mm.

Glumes

equal, 0.6-1.7 mm, purplish, scabridulous, particularly on the veins, 1-veined, apices acute;

lemmas 1.2-2.1 mm, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, somewhat plumbeous, glabrous, usually smooth, occasionally scabridulous near the apices, apices acute, unawned or mucronate, mucros to 0.3 mm;

paleas 1.2-2.1 mm, lanceolate, glabrous, acute;

anthers 1-1.3 mm, greenish-yellow to purplish at maturity.

subequal, 2.2-3.2 mm, exceeding the florets, scabridulous to scabrous, faintly 1-veined, acute to obtuse, usually unawned, occasionally awned, awns to 0.2 mm;

lemmas 2-3 mm, oblong-elliptic, shortly pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 3/4, apices acute, usually awned, sometimes unawned, awns to 15 mm, flexuous, purplish;

paleas 1.8-2.9 mm, oblong-elliptic, acute;

anthers 1.2-1.6 mm, yellowish to purplish.

Caryopses

0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.

1.3-1.6 mm, fusiform, reddish-brown.

2n

= 20, 22, 28.

= 24, 26, 28, 40, 42, 46, 60, 64.

Muhlenbergia asperifolia

Muhlenbergia emersleyi

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MD; MI; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SD; TX; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NC; NM; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Muhlenbergia asperifolia grows in moist, often alkaline meadows, playa margins, and sandy washes, on grassy slopes, and around seeps and hot springs, at elevations of 55-3000 m. Its geographic range includes northern Mexico. Muhlenbergia asperifolia is morphologically similar to the southeastern M. torreyana, but differs in having glabrous, weakly compressed culms and more widely divergent panicle branches.

The caryopses of Muhlenbergia asperifolia are frequently infected by a smut, Tilletia asperifolia Ellis & Everhart, which produces a globose body filled with blackish-brown spores.

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

Muhlenbergia emersleyi grows on rocky slopes, gravelly washes, canyons, cliffs, and arroyos, often in soils derived from limestone, at elevations of 1200-2500 m, and is also grown as an ornamental. Its range extends from the southwestern United States through Mexico to Panama.

Muhlenbergia emersleyi differs from the closely related M. longiligula in its compressed-keeled sheaths, pubescent florets, and membranous ligules.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 179. FNA vol. 25, p. 185.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia
Sibling taxa
M. andina, M. appressa, M. arenacea, M. arenicola, M. arizonica, M. arsenei, 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. 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
Synonyms Epicampes subpatens
Name authority (Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi Vasey
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