Muhlenbergia schreberi |
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nimblewell, nimblewill, nimblewill muhly |
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Habit | Plants perennial (appearing annual); usually cespitose, not rhizomatous, sometimes stoloniferous. |
Culms | 10-45(70) cm, geniculate, often rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous or puberulent below the nodes; internodes often smooth, shiny, glabrous. |
Sheaths | shorter than the internodes, glabrous for most of their length, margins shortly (0.3-1.2 mm) pubescent distally, not becoming spirally coiled when old; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, truncate, erose, ciliate; blades (1)3-10 cm long, 1-4.5 mm wide, flat, smooth or scabridulous. |
Panicles | 3-15 cm long, 1-1.6 cm wide, contracted, often interrupted below; branches 0.4-5.5 cm, appressed or diverging up to 30° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to the base; pedicels 0.1-4 mm, scabrous to hirsute; disarticulation above the glumes. |
Spikelets | 1.8-2.8 mm, borne singly. |
Glumes | unequal, shorter than the florets, thin and membranous throughout, unawned; lower glumes lacking or rudimentary, veinless, rounded and often erose; upper glumes 0.1-0.3 mm, veinless; lemmas 1.8-2.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, mostly scabrous, calluses hairy, hairs to 0.8 mm, veins greenish, lower 1/4 of the midveins with a few appressed hairs, apices acute to acuminate, awned, awns 1.5-5 mm, straight; paleas 1.8-2.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, acute to acuminate; anthers 0.2-0.5 mm, yellow. |
Caryopses | 1-1.4 mm, fusiform, brownish. |
2n | = 40, 42. |
Muhlenbergia schreberi |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Muhlenbergia schreberi grows in moist to dry woods and prairies on rocky slopes, in ravines, and along sandy riverbanks, at elevations of 60-1600 m. It is also common in disturbed sites near cultivated fields, pastures, and roads at these elevations. Its geographic range includes central, but not northern, Mexico. Records from the western United States probably reflect receent introductions. The species is considered a noxious, invasive weed in California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 162. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | M. palustris, M. diffusa |
Name authority | J.E Gmel. |
Web links |
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