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alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass

marshland muhly

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

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

internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.

12-50 cm, erect to geniculate;

internodes mostly glabrous and smooth or scabridulous, scabridulous or strigulose 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 longer than the internodes, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous;

ligules 1.5-3.1 mm, hyaline, truncate to obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate, with lateral lobes that exceed the central portion;

blades 2-8.5 cm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, flat, sometimes involute, scabridulous abaxially, shortly pubescent to minutely villous adaxially, midveins prominent abaxially.

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.

10-26 cm long, 2.8-8 cm wide;

primary branches 2.6-7 cm, often capillary, diverging 25-80° from the rachises;

pedicels 4-7 mm, usually curved, often through 90° or more.

Spikelets

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

1.4-2 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.

equal, 0.7-1.2 mm, usually conspicuously strigulose, particularly near the margins and apices, 1-veined, acute to obtuse, unawned;

lemmas 1.4-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, greenish, sometimes purplish-tinged, shortly appressed-pubescent on the midveins and margins, apices acute or obtuse, unawned;

paleas 1.3-1.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, intercostal region sparsely short-pilose or glabrous;

anthers 0.6-1.2 mm, olivaceous.

Caryopses

0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.

0.8-1.2 mm, fusiform, brownish.

2n

= 20, 22, 28.

= 20, 24.

Muhlenbergia asperifolia

Muhlenbergia sinuosa

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]
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from FNA
AZ; NM
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[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 sinuosa grows in sandy soil along washes, on open slopes and rocky ledges, and in roadside ditches, at elevations of 1650-2300 m. It is usually found in oak-pine forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands, oak-gramma savannahs, and riverine woodlands. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into northern Mexico.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 179. FNA vol. 25, p. 196.
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. 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. 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 (Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi Swallen
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