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Mexican muhly, muhlenbergie du mexique, muhlenbergie mexicaine, wire-stem muhly, wood satin grass

muhly

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

30-90 cm tall, 0.5-2 mm thick, erect, much branched above the base;

internodes dull, puberulent or glabrous for most of their length, sometimes strigose immediately 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

smooth or scabridulous, somewhat keeled;

ligules 0.4-1 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate-ciliolate;

blades 2-20 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat, scabrous or smooth, those of the secondary branches similar in length and width to those of the main branches.

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

terminal and axillary, 2-21 cm long, 0.3-3 cm wide, dense;

primary branches 0.3-5.5 cm, appressed or diverging up to 30° from rachises;

pedicels to 2 mm, strigose;

axillary panicles exserted on long peduncles.

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

1.5-3.8 mm, often purple-tinged.

2.2-3.4 mm.

Glumes

subequal, 1.5-3.7 mm, equaling or slightly shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined, tapering from the bases to the acuminate apices, unawned or awned, awns to 2 mm;

lemmas 1.5-3.8 mm, lanceolate, pubescent on the calluses, lower portion of the mid-veins, and margins, hairs shorter than 0.7 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 10 mm;

paleas 1.5-3.8 mm, narrowly lanceolate, apices acuminate;

anthers 0.3-0.5 mm, yellow to purplish.

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

1.1-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.

1.4-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.

2n

= 40.

= unknown.

Muhlenbergia mexicana

Muhlenbergia ×curtisetosa

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; IA; IL; IN; MO; OH; PA; TX; ON
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Muhlenbergia mexicana usually grows in mesic to wet areas such as moist prairies and woodlands, stream banks, roadsides, ditch banks, lake margins, swamps, bogs, and hot springs, at elevations 50-3300 m, and is found in many different plant communities. Despite its name, M. mexicana grows only in Canada and the United States.

Plants with awns 3-10 mm long belong to Muhlenbergia mexicana var. filiformis (Torr.) Scribn., and those without an awn or with awns less than 3 mm long to Muhlenbergia mexicana (L.) Trin. var. mexicana. Early in the flowering season, M. mexicana may be confused with plants of M. bushii in which the axillary panicles are poorly developed, but they differ in their dull internodes and the fact that the blades on the secondary branches are usually similar in length and width to those of the main branches.

(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. 154. 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. 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. 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 (L.) Trin. (Scribn.) Bush
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