Muhlenbergia fragilis
Muhlenbergia capillaris
annual muhly, delicate muhly
hair-awn muhly, hairy-awn muhly
10-38 cm, erect or spreading;
internodes mostly glabrous, smooth or scabridulous, scabrous or strigulose below the nodes.
60-100 (150) cm, erect from the base, not conspicuously branched;
internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes puberulent below the nodes.
often longer than the internodes, scabridulous, margins hyaline;
ligules 1-3 mm, hyaline, obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate, with lateral lobes;
blades 1-10 cm long, 0.4-2 mm wide, flat, scabrous abaxially, strigulose adaxially, margins and midveins thickened basally, whitish.
glabrous or puberulent, basal sheaths rounded, often becoming fibrous, but never spirally coiled, at maturity;
ligules 1.8-5(10) mm, membranous, firm, strongly decurrent, obtuse;
blades 10-35(80) cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat or involute, smooth abaxially, scabrous adaxially.
10-24 cm long, 3.5-11 cm wide, diffuse;
primary branches 2.2-6.2 cm long, about 0.1 mm thick, diverging 80-100° from the rachises, straight;
pedicels 6-10 mm long, about 0.02 mm thick, delicate;
disarticulation above the glumes.
15-50(60) cm long, 5-30(41) cm wide, longer than wide, diffuse;
primary branches 2-20 cm, capillary, diverging 30-100° from the rachises, naked basally, lower branches with 5-20 spikelets;
pedicels 10-40(50) mm, longer than the spikelets, capillary, flexible.
1-1.2 mm, appressed to slightly divergent.
3-5 mm, usually purple, occasionally green, brown, or stramineous.
equal to subequal, 0.5-1 mm, glabrous throughout or obscurely puberulent, hairs about 0.06 mm, 1-veined, obtuse or subacute;
lemmas 1-1.2 mm, oblong-elliptic, purplish to light brownish, not mottled, glabrous or densely appressed-puberulent on the margins and midveins, apices obtuse, unawned;
paleas 0.9-1.2 mm, oblong-elliptic;
anthers 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish.
subequal, (0.3)1-1.5(2) mm, usually less than 1/2 as long as the lemmas, glabrous;
lower glumes 1-veined, usually unawned, rarely awned, awns 1-3 mm;
upper glumes 1-veined, rarely 3-veined, acute to acuminate, often erose, usually unawned, rarely awned, awns 1-3(5) mm;
lemmas 3-5 mm, lanceolate, not shiny, calluses shortly pubescent, apices scabrous, acuminate, sometimes with 2 setaceous teeth, teeth to 1 mm, unawned or awned, awns 2-13(18) mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies;
paleas 2-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, usually unawned;
anthers 1.5-2 mm, purple.
0.7-0.9 mm, elliptic, reddish-brown.
2-2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, brownish.
= 20.
= unknown.
Muhlenbergia fragilis
Muhlenbergia capillaris
Muhlenbergia fragilis grows on rocky talus slopes, cliffs, canyon walls, road cuts, and sandy slopes, often over calcareous parent materials, at elevations of 480-2200 m. It is usually found in oak-gramma savannahs, thorn scrub forests, oak-yellow pine forests, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to southern Mexico.
Populations may have individual plants with completely glabrous lemmas or may consist entirely of such plants. This morphological variation is not correlated with any distributional or habitat characteristics.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In the southeastern United States, Muhlenbergia capillaris usually grows in rocky or clay soils in open woodlands and savannahs and on calcareous outcrops, at elevations of 0-500 m. In the northeastern states, it is also found on diabase and sandstone outcrops and ridges. Its native range includes the southeastern United States, Bahamas, and possibly various Caribbean islands. It is also grown as an ornamental.
Muhlenbergia capillaris resembles M. reverchonii in many respects, but differs it is dull, apically scabrous lemmas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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