Muhlenbergia mexicana
Muhlenbergia porteri
Mexican muhly, muhlenbergie du mexique, muhlenbergie mexicaine, wire-stem muhly, wood satin grass
bush muhly, Porter's muhly
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.
25-100 cm tall, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, erect, geniculate, wiry, freely branched, branches stiff, geniculate, widely divergent;
internodes scabridulous throughout.
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, glabrous;
ligules 1-2.5(4) mm, truncate, lacerate, with lateral lobes;
blades 2-8 cm long, 0.5-2 mm wide, flat or folded, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.
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.
4-14 cm long, 6-15 cm wide, open, not dense, usually purple;
primary branches 1-7.5 cm, diverging 30-90° from the rachises, stiff, naked basally;
pedicels 2-13(20) mm, scabrous.
1.5-3.8 mm, often purple-tinged.
3-4.5 mm.
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.
2-3 mm, shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined, veins scabrous, apices gradually acute to acuminate, occasionally mucronate, mucros to 0.4 mm;
lemmas 3-4.5 mm, lanceolate, purplish, appressed-pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 3/4 of the margins and midveins, apices acuminate, awned, awns 2-13 mm, straight;
paleas 3-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate;
anthers 1.5-2.3 mm, purple to yellow.
1.1-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.
2-2.4 mm, oblong, compressed, yellowish-brown.
= 40.
= 20, 23, 24, 40.
Muhlenbergia mexicana
Muhlenbergia porteri
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 porteri grows among boulders on rocky slopes and on cliffs, and in dry arroyos, desert flats, and grasslands, frequently in the protection of shrubs, at elevations of 600-1700 m. Its geographic range extends from the southwestern United States to northern Mexico.
Muhlenbergia porteri is highly palatable to all classes of livestock, but is never abundant at any particular location.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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