Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia emersleyi
sandhill muhly
bull muhly, bullgrass, Gooding's muhly
10-70 cm, decumbent below;
internodes cinereous-lanate, glabrous, or scabrous for most of their length, always cinereous-lanate below the nodes.
(50)80-150 cm, stout, erect, not conspicuously branched;
internodes smooth for most of their length, smooth or scabridulous 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 or longer than the internodes, glabrous or puberulent, basal sheaths laterally compressed, usually keeled;
ligules 10-25 mm, membranous throughout, acuminate, lacerate;
blades 20-50 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat or folded, scabrous abaxially, smooth or scabridulous 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.
20-45 cm long, 3-15 cm wide, loosely contracted to open, light purplish to light brownish;
primary branches 1-17 cm, lax, loosely appressed or diverging up to 70° from the rachises, naked basally;
pedicels 0.5-3 mm, smooth or scabridulous.
2.6-4.5 mm.
2.2-3.2 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.
subequal, 2.2-3.2 mm, exceeding the florets, scabridulous to scabrous, faintly 1-veined, acute to obtuse, usually unawned, occasionally awned, awns to 0.2 mm;
lemmas 2-3 mm, oblong-elliptic, shortly pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 3/4, apices acute, usually awned, sometimes unawned, awns to 15 mm, flexuous, purplish;
paleas 1.8-2.9 mm, oblong-elliptic, acute;
anthers 1.2-1.6 mm, yellowish to purplish.
1.8-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.3-1.6 mm, fusiform, reddish-brown.
= 26, 42, 60.
= 24, 26, 28, 40, 42, 46, 60, 64.
Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia emersleyi
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 emersleyi grows on rocky slopes, gravelly washes, canyons, cliffs, and arroyos, often in soils derived from limestone, at elevations of 1200-2500 m, and is also grown as an ornamental. Its range extends from the southwestern United States through Mexico to Panama.
Muhlenbergia emersleyi differs from the closely related M. longiligula in its compressed-keeled sheaths, pubescent florets, and membranous ligules.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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