Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia sylvatica
alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass
forest muhly, muhlenbergie des bois, woodland muhly
10-60(100) cm, decumbent-ascending, bases somewhat compressed-keeled;
internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.
40-110 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, erect;
internodes puberulent for most of their length, strigose 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.
glabrous and smooth for most of their length, scabridulous distally, margins hyaline;
ligules 1-2.5 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate-ciliolate;
blades 5-18 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, flat, scabrous to scabridulous, occasionally smooth.
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.
terminal and axillary, 6-21 cm long, 0.2-1 cm wide, narrow, not dense;
axillary panicles usually exserted at maturity;
branches 0.8-6 cm, ascending to closely appressed;
pedicels 0.8-3.5 mm, strigose.
1.2-2.1 mm, occasionally with 2 or 3 florets.
2.2-3.7 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.
subequal, 1.8-3 mm, nearly as long as the lemmas, 1-veined, tapering from near the base, apices scabridulous, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;
lemmas 2.2-3.7 mm, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, hairy on the calluses, lower 1/2 of the midveins, and margins, hairs 0.2-0.5 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 5-18 mm, purplish;
paleas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, proximal 1/2 shortly pilose, apices scabridulous, acuminate;
anthers 0.4-0.8 mm, yellow.
0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.4-2 mm, fusiform, brown.
= 20, 22, 28.
= 40.
Muhlenbergia asperifolia
Muhlenbergia sylvatica
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 sylvatica grows in upland forests, along creeks and hollows, on rocky ledges derived from sandstone, shale, or calcareous parent materials, moist prairies, and swamps, at elevations from 30-1500 m. It is restricted to the Flora region, its primary range being southeastern Canada and the midwestern and eastern United States. Reports from British Columbia were based on a misidentification (Douglas et al. 2002). The record from Arizona is based on the report in Kearney and Peebles (1951) of a collection made by Toumey at Grapevine Creek in the Grand Canyon.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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