Muhlenbergia glomerata |
Muhlenbergia sericea |
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bristly muhly, marsh muhly, muhlenbergie agglomeree, spike muhly |
dune hairgrass, purple muhly |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 30-120 cm tall, 0.8-2.5 mm thick, erect, seldom branched above the base; internodes dull, mostly puberulent (sometimes sparsely so), terete, rarely keeled, strigose immediately below the nodes. |
70-140 (160) cm, erect from the base, not conspicuously branched; internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes puberulent below the nodes. |
Sheaths | scabridulous, slightly keeled; ligules 0.2-0.6 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate-ciliolate; blades 2-15 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat, usually scabrous or scabridulous, occasionally smooth. |
glabrous or puberulent, sheaths rounded near the base, rarely becoming fibrous at maturity, not becoming spirally coiled when old; ligules 4-8(10) mm, membranous, firm, strongly decurrent, obtuse; blades 35-100 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, usually involute, smooth abaxially, scabrous adaxially. |
Panicles | 1.5-12 cm long, 0.3-1.8 cm wide, lobed, dense; primary branches 0.2-2.5 cm, appressed; pedicels absent or to 1 mm, strigose. |
20-60(70) cm long, 15-30(40) 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 4-50 mm, longer than the spikelets, capillary, divergent, stiff or flexible. |
Spikelets | 3-8 mm. |
3-5 mm, mostly purplish. |
Glumes | subequal, 3-8 mm (including the awn), about 1.3-2 times longer than the lemmas, smooth or scabridulous distally, 1-veined, acuminate, awned, awns to 5 mm; lemmas 1.9-3.1 mm, lanceolate, pubescent on the calluses, mid-veins, and margins, hairs to 1.2 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm; paleas 1.9-3.1 mm, lanceolate, loosely pilose between the veins, apices acuminate; anthers 0.8-1.5 mm, yellowish. |
subequal, (0.3)1-2 mm (excluding the awns), less than 1/2 as long as the lemmas, glabrous; lower glumes 1-veined, awned, awns 0.5-10 mm; upper glumes 1-veined (rarely 3-veined), acute to acuminate, often erose, awned, awns 2-25 mm; lemmas 3-5 mm, lanceolate, calluses shortly pubescent, apices acuminate, with 2 setaceous teeth, teeth 1-5 mm, awned from between the teeth, awns 8-35 mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies; paleas 2-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, veins usually extending into awns to 2 mm; anthers 1.5-2 mm, purple. |
Caryopses | 1-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown. |
2-2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, brownish. |
2n | = 20. |
= unknown. |
Muhlenbergia glomerata |
Muhlenbergia sericea |
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Distribution |
CO; CT; DC; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT
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Discussion | Muhlenbergia glomerata grows in meadows, marshes, bogs, alkaline fens, lake margins, stream banks, beside irrigation ditches and hot springs, and on gravelly slopes, in many different plant communities, at elevations of 30-2300 m. It is most common in southern Canada and the northeastern United States, but grows sporadically throughout the western United States. It is not known from Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Muhlenbergia sericea grows in sandy maritime habitats on the barrier islands and in coastal woodlands of the southeastern United States, at elevations of 0-50 m. It is available as an ornamental, sometimes under the name 'Purple Muhly'. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 154. | FNA vol. 25, p. 188. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. racemosa var. cinnoides, M. glomerata var. cinnoides | M. filipes |
Name authority | (Willd.) Trin. | (Michx.) P.M. Peterson |
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