Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia fragilis
alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass
annual muhly, delicate muhly
10-60(100) cm, decumbent-ascending, bases somewhat compressed-keeled;
internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.
10-38 cm, erect or spreading;
internodes mostly glabrous, smooth or scabridulous, scabrous or strigulose below the nodes.
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.
often longer than the internodes, scabridulous, margins hyaline;
ligules 1-3 mm, hyaline, obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate, with lateral lobes;
blades 1-10 cm long, 0.4-2 mm wide, flat, scabrous abaxially, strigulose adaxially, margins and midveins thickened basally, whitish.
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.
10-24 cm long, 3.5-11 cm wide, diffuse;
primary branches 2.2-6.2 cm long, about 0.1 mm thick, diverging 80-100° from the rachises, straight;
pedicels 6-10 mm long, about 0.02 mm thick, delicate;
disarticulation above the glumes.
1.2-2.1 mm, occasionally with 2 or 3 florets.
1-1.2 mm, appressed to slightly divergent.
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.
equal to subequal, 0.5-1 mm, glabrous throughout or obscurely puberulent, hairs about 0.06 mm, 1-veined, obtuse or subacute;
lemmas 1-1.2 mm, oblong-elliptic, purplish to light brownish, not mottled, glabrous or densely appressed-puberulent on the margins and midveins, apices obtuse, unawned;
paleas 0.9-1.2 mm, oblong-elliptic;
anthers 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish.
0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.
0.7-0.9 mm, elliptic, reddish-brown.
= 20, 22, 28.
= 20.
Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia fragilis
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 fragilis grows on rocky talus slopes, cliffs, canyon walls, road cuts, and sandy slopes, often over calcareous parent materials, at elevations of 480-2200 m. It is usually found in oak-gramma savannahs, thorn scrub forests, oak-yellow pine forests, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to southern Mexico.
Populations may have individual plants with completely glabrous lemmas or may consist entirely of such plants. This morphological variation is not correlated with any distributional or habitat characteristics.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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