Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia sericea
sandhill muhly
dune hairgrass, purple muhly
10-70 cm, decumbent below;
internodes cinereous-lanate, glabrous, or scabrous for most of their length, always cinereous-lanate below the nodes.
70-140 (160) cm, erect from the base, not conspicuously branched;
internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes puberulent 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.
glabrous or puberulent, sheaths rounded near the base, rarely becoming fibrous at maturity, not becoming spirally coiled when old;
ligules 4-8(10) mm, membranous, firm, strongly decurrent, obtuse;
blades 35-100 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, usually involute, smooth 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.
20-60(70) cm long, 15-30(40) cm wide, longer than wide, diffuse;
primary branches 2-20 cm, capillary, diverging 30-100° from the rachises, naked basally, lower branches with 5-20 spikelets;
pedicels 4-50 mm, longer than the spikelets, capillary, divergent, stiff or flexible.
2.6-4.5 mm.
3-5 mm, mostly purplish.
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, (0.3)1-2 mm (excluding the awns), less than 1/2 as long as the lemmas, glabrous;
lower glumes 1-veined, awned, awns 0.5-10 mm;
upper glumes 1-veined (rarely 3-veined), acute to acuminate, often erose, awned, awns 2-25 mm;
lemmas 3-5 mm, lanceolate, calluses shortly pubescent, apices acuminate, with 2 setaceous teeth, teeth 1-5 mm, awned from between the teeth, awns 8-35 mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies;
paleas 2-4.5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, veins usually extending into awns to 2 mm;
anthers 1.5-2 mm, purple.
1.8-2.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
2-2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, brownish.
= 26, 42, 60.
= unknown.
Muhlenbergia pungens
Muhlenbergia sericea
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 sericea grows in sandy maritime habitats on the barrier islands and in coastal woodlands of the southeastern United States, at elevations of 0-50 m. It is available as an ornamental, sometimes under the name 'Purple Muhly'.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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