The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

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

California muhly

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

30-70 cm tall, 0.7-1.5 mm thick, decumbent;

internodes dull, smooth, and glabrous for most of their length, sometimes strigose immediately 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.

shorter than the internodes, scabrous, margins whitish;

ligules 0.8-2 mm, membranous, truncate, ciliolate, irregularly toothed;

blades 4-16 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat, scabridulous abaxially, scabrous to strigose adaxially.

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.

terminal, 5-13 cm long, 0.5-2.2 cm wide, dense;

branches 0.5-3.2 cm, ascending, appressed or diverging up to 20° from the rachises;

pedicels to 1.5 mm, stout, strigose;

axillary panicles not present.

Spikelets

1.5-3.8 mm, often purple-tinged.

2.8-4 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.

subequal, 2.5-4 mm, nearly as long as or slightly longer than the lemmas, scabrous (especially on the veins), 1-veined, tapering from the base to the acuminate apices, usually unawned, awns, if present, to 1.2 mm;

lemmas 2.8-4 mm, narrowly lanceolate, with soft hairs on the calluses and lower portion of the lemma bodies, hairs to 1 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 0.2-2.2 mm;

paleas 2.8-4 mm, subequal to the lemmas, narrowly lanceolate, with short (less than 1.5 mm), soft hairs on the lower 1/2, apices scabridulous, acuminate;

anthers 1-1.7 mm, yellow.

Caryopses

1.1-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.

1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brown.

2n

= 40.

= 80.

Muhlenbergia mexicana

Muhlenbergia californica

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
CA
[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 californica grows in canyons, along moist ditches, and on sandy slopes, at elevations of 100-2150 m. It is endemic to the Transverse Ranges of southern California.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 154. FNA vol. 25, p. 154.
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. 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
Name authority (L.) Trin. Vasey
Web links