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alkali muhly, or alkali muhly, scratch grass

muhly

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

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

internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes.

20-70 cm tall, less than 3 mm thick, erect, branched above;

internodes smooth, shiny for most of their length, scabridulous or glabrous 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.

glabrous, margins hyaline, old sheaths not flattened, papery, or spirally coiled;

ligules 0.2-1.1 mm, membranous, truncate, sometimes ciliolate;

blades 2-8.5 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat, smooth or scabridulous.

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.

4.2-16.5 cm long, 0.2-1.5 cm wide, mostly exserted from the sheath;

primary branches 0.8-7.2 cm, ascending to appressed;

pedicels 0.6-3 mm, strigose.

Spikelets

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

2.2-3.4 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.

shorter than the florets, veins scabridulous, unawned or awned, awns to 0.5 mm;

lower glumes 0.4-1.5 mm, veinless (rarely 1-veined), usually truncate to rounded, occasionally acute, sometimes notched;

upper glumes 0.8-1.9 mm, 1(2)-veined, acute to acuminate;

lemmas 2.2-3(3.4) mm, lanceolate, hairy on the calluses and lower portion of the margins and midveins, hairs shorter than 1.5 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 0.5-4 mm, straight;

paleas 2.2-3.1(3.4) mm, lanceolate, intercostal region shortly pilose on the lower 1/2, apices acuminate;

anthers usually not developed, occasionally 1 or 2 present, 0.3-0.9 mm, yellow.

Caryopses

0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish.

1.4-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.

2n

= 20, 22, 28.

= unknown.

Muhlenbergia asperifolia

Muhlenbergia ×curtisetosa

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
AR; IA; IL; IN; MO; OH; PA; TX; ON
[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 ×curtisetosa grows in abandoned fields and forest openings, often near bogs, at elevations of 20-300 m. It may be a hybrid between M. schreberi (which contributes the short glumes) and either of two rhizomatous species, M. frondosa and M. tenuiflora.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 179. FNA vol. 25, p. 156.
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. 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. ×involuta
Synonyms M. schreberi var. curtisetosa, M. curtisetosa
Name authority (Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi (Scribn.) Bush
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