Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia rigens
sandhill muhly
deer grass, deer muhly
10-70 cm, decumbent below;
internodes cinereous-lanate, glabrous, or scabrous for most of their length, always cinereous-lanate below the nodes.
(35)50-150 cm tall, to 5 mm thick near the base, stiffly erect, not rooting at the lower nodes;
internodes glabrous.
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.
longer than the internodes, smooth or scabridulous, rounded dorsally, bases somewhat flat and chartaceous;
ligules 0.5-2(3) mm, firm, truncate, usually ciliolate;
blades 10-50 cm long, 1.5-6 mm wide, flat or involute, stiff, glabrous abaxially, scabrous 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.
15-60 cm long, 0.5-1.2 cm wide, spikelike, dense, grayish-green, often interrupted below;
primary branches 0.2-4 cm, appressed;
pedicels 0.2-3 mm, hispidulous, strongly divergent.
2.6-4.5 mm.
2.4-4 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.
subequal, 1.8-3.2 mm, almost as long as the florets, scabrous to scabridulous, 1-veined, usually acute or obtuse, occasionally acuminate or notched, occasionally mucronate, mucros to 0.6 mm;
lemmas 2.4-4 mm, lanceolate, pubescent on the calluses, lower 1/6 of the margins, and midveins, hairs to 0.4 mm, apices scabrous, acute or obtuse, unawned, rarely mucronate, mucros to 1 mm;
paleas 2.3-3.8 mm, lanceolate, acute;
anthers 1.3-1.8 mm, yellow to purple.
1.8-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.8-2.2 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 26, 42, 60.
= 40.
Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia rigens
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 rigens grows in sandy washes, gravelly canyon bottoms, rocky drainages, and moist, sandy slopes, often along small streams, at elevations of 90-2500 m. Its geographic range extends to central Mexico. It is available commercially as an ornamental. Muhlenbergia rigens is similar to M. dubia, but differs in having tighter, spikelike panicles, shorter ligules, yellow or purplish anthers, and shorter lemmas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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