Muhlenbergia fragilis
Muhlenbergia glauca
annual muhly, delicate muhly
desert muhly
10-38 cm, erect or spreading;
internodes mostly glabrous, smooth or scabridulous, scabrous or strigulose below the nodes.
25-60 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, often decumbent, sometimes erect;
internodes mostly scabrous, retrorsely hispidulous 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.
longer than the internodes, scabridulous;
ligules 0.5-2 mm, truncate to obtuse, erose or lacerate;
blades 4-12 cm long, 1-2.6 mm wide, flat to involute distally, not arcuate, scabrous abaxially, hirsute or 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.
4-12(17) cm long, 0.3-2.4 cm wide, contracted, interrupted below;
branches 0.3-3 cm, usually appressed, occasionally diverging up to 30° from the rachises;
pedicels 0.1-1.2 mm, scabrous to hirsute.
1-1.2 mm, appressed to slightly divergent.
2.4-3.5 mm.
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.
equal, 1.5-3.5 mm, 1-veined, veins scabrous, apices acute or acuminate, usually awned, awns, if present, to 1.5 mm;
lemmas 2.4-3.4 mm, elliptic, pubescent on the lower the 1/2 of the midveins and margins, hairs to 0.6 mm, tawny, apices acuminate to acute, awned, awns 0.1-3(5) mm;
paleas 2.2-3.4 mm, elliptic, intercostal region pubescent on the lower 1/2, apices acuminate to acute;
anthers 1.8-2.4 mm, orange.
0.7-0.9 mm, elliptic, reddish-brown.
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 20.
= 60.
Muhlenbergia fragilis
Muhlenbergia glauca
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.)
Muhlenbergia glauca grows on calcareous rocky slopes, cliffs, canyon walls, table rocks, and volcanic rock outcrops, at elevations of 1200-2780 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico. M. glauca resembles M. polycaulis, but differs in its shorter lemma awns and strongly rhizomatous habit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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