Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia curtifolia
sandhill muhly
Utah muhly
10-70 cm, decumbent below;
internodes cinereous-lanate, glabrous, or scabrous for most of their length, always cinereous-lanate below the nodes.
10-45 cm tall, 0.3-0.5 mm thick, erect or decumbent;
internodes hirsute and strigose below the nodes.
longer than the internodes, cinereous-lanate below, glabrous and smooth or scabridulous distally;
ligules 0.2-1 mm, densely ciliate, obtuse, with lateral lobes;
blades 2-8 cm long, 1-2.2 mm wide, flat to tightly involute, scabrous abaxially, hirsute adaxially, stiff, pungent.
shorter than the internodes, hirsute;
ligules 0.2-0.6 mm, margins hyaline, apices truncate to obtuse, erose, ciliate;
blades 0.5-4(5) cm long, 0.6-1.5(2.2) mm wide, awl-shaped, flat near the base, becoming slightly involute distally, strigose to scabrous abaxially, hirsute adaxially.
(7)8-16(19) cm long, (2)4-14 cm wide, open;
primary branches 1.5-8 cm, capillary, straight, lower branches diverging 70°-90° from the rachises in mature plants, often appearing fascicled in immature plants;
pedicels 10-25 mm.
2-10 cm long, 0.2-1 cm wide, contracted, not dense;
primary branches 0.3-2.5 cm, ascending to appressed;
pedicels 0.1-3 mm.
2.6-4.5 mm.
2.8-4 mm.
equal, 1.2-3 mm, purplish near the base, smooth or scabridulous distally, 1-veined, acuminate or acute, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;
lemmas 2.6-4.5 mm, lanceolate, purplish, scabridulous distally and on the margins, apices acuminate, awned, awns 1-1.5(2) mm, straight;
paleas 2.6-4.5 mm, lanceolate, glabrous, acuminate, 2-awned, awns to 1 mm;
anthers 1.8-2.6 mm, purplish.
equal, 2.5-4 mm, 1-veined, veins scabridulous, apices acute;
lemmas 2.8-4 mm, lanceolate, hairy on the lower 3/4, hairs to 1.5 mm, tawny, midveins scabridulous distally, apices acuminate, awned, awns usually 1-6(12) mm, delicate, straight;
paleas 2.8-4 mm, lanceolate, intercostal region tawny pubescent on the basal 3/4;
anthers 1.2-1.6 mm, yellowish-purple.
1.8-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
2-2.4 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 26, 42, 60.
= unknown.
Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia curtifolia
Muhlenbergia pungens grows in loose sandy soils near sand dunes to sandy clay loam slopes and flats in desert shrub and open woodlands, at elevations of 600-2500 m. It is known only from the western and central contiguous United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Muhlenbergia curtifolia grows on damp ledges and in rock crevices of vertical cliffs, and beneath large calcareous boulders above the canyon floor, at elevations of 1600-2750 m, in the southwestern United States. It resembles M. thurberi, differing in its flatter leaf blades and shorter ligules and anthers. It also tends to grow in more mesic habitats than M. thurberi.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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