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alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass

few-flower muhly, New Mexican muhly, New Mexico muhly

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

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

internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.

30-70 cm tall, 0.7-1 mm thick, erect, geniculate and rooting at the lower nodes;

internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes glaucous, often striate 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.

usually shorter than the internodes, smooth or scabridulous, usually with dark brown necrotic spots, flat and spreading at maturity;

ligules 1-2.5(5) mm, membranous, obtuse, with lateral lobes 1.5-3 mm longer than the central portion;

blades (1)5-12(15) cm long, 0.5-1.5 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous and smooth abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, often with dark brown necrotic spots.

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.

(2)5-15 cm long, 0.5-2.8 cm wide, contracted, interrupted below;

primary branches 0.5-4(6) cm, appressed or diverging up to 30° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to the base;

pedicels 0.1-3 mm, scabrous.

Spikelets

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

3.5-5.5 mm, occasionally with 2 florets.

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.

equal, 1.5-3.5 mm, shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined, acuminate to acute, often erose, unawned or awned, awns to 2.2 mm;

lemmas 3-5.5 mm, lanceolate, often purplish, mostly glabrous, calluses with a few short hairs, apices acuminate, scabridulous, awned, awns (5)7-25 mm, flexuous;

paleas 3-5.5 mm, lanceolate, glabrous, acuminate;

anthers 1.5-2.1 mm, yellowish or purplish.

Caryopses

0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.

2-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.

2n

= 20, 22, 28.

= unknown.

Muhlenbergia asperifolia

Muhlenbergia pauciflora

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; CA; CO; NM; TX; UT
[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 pauciflora grows in open or closed forests on rocky slopes, cliffs, canyons, and rock outcrops of granitic or calcareous origin, at elevations of 1200-2500 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 179. FNA vol. 25, p. 167.
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. 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. 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 M. neomexicana
Name authority (Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi Buckley
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