Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia porteri
alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass
bush muhly, Porter's muhly
10-60(100) cm, decumbent-ascending, bases somewhat compressed-keeled;
internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.
25-100 cm tall, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, erect, geniculate, wiry, freely branched, branches stiff, geniculate, widely divergent;
internodes scabridulous throughout.
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 than the internodes, glabrous;
ligules 1-2.5(4) mm, truncate, lacerate, with lateral lobes;
blades 2-8 cm long, 0.5-2 mm wide, flat or folded, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.
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.
4-14 cm long, 6-15 cm wide, open, not dense, usually purple;
primary branches 1-7.5 cm, diverging 30-90° from the rachises, stiff, naked basally;
pedicels 2-13(20) mm, scabrous.
1.2-2.1 mm, occasionally with 2 or 3 florets.
3-4.5 mm.
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.
2-3 mm, shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined, veins scabrous, apices gradually acute to acuminate, occasionally mucronate, mucros to 0.4 mm;
lemmas 3-4.5 mm, lanceolate, purplish, appressed-pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 3/4 of the margins and midveins, apices acuminate, awned, awns 2-13 mm, straight;
paleas 3-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate;
anthers 1.5-2.3 mm, purple to yellow.
0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.
2-2.4 mm, oblong, compressed, yellowish-brown.
= 20, 22, 28.
= 20, 23, 24, 40.
Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia porteri
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 porteri grows among boulders on rocky slopes and on cliffs, and in dry arroyos, desert flats, and grasslands, frequently in the protection of shrubs, at elevations of 600-1700 m. Its geographic range extends from the southwestern United States to northern Mexico.
Muhlenbergia porteri is highly palatable to all classes of livestock, but is never abundant at any particular location.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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