Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia mexicana
sandhill muhly
Mexican muhly, muhlenbergie du mexique, muhlenbergie mexicaine, wire-stem muhly, wood satin grass
10-70 cm, decumbent below;
internodes cinereous-lanate, glabrous, or scabrous for most of their length, always cinereous-lanate below the nodes.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
2.6-4.5 mm.
1.5-3.8 mm, often purple-tinged.
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, 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.
1.8-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.1-1.6 mm, fusiform, brown.
= 26, 42, 60.
= 40.
Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia mexicana
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 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.)
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