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forest muhly, muhlenbergie des bois, woodland muhly

Habit Plants perennial; rhizomatous.
Culms

40-110 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, erect;

internodes puberulent for most of their length, strigose below the nodes.

Sheaths

glabrous and smooth for most of their length, scabridulous distally, margins hyaline;

ligules 1-2.5 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate-ciliolate;

blades 5-18 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, flat, scabrous to scabridulous, occasionally smooth.

Panicles

terminal and axillary, 6-21 cm long, 0.2-1 cm wide, narrow, not dense;

axillary panicles usually exserted at maturity;

branches 0.8-6 cm, ascending to closely appressed;

pedicels 0.8-3.5 mm, strigose.

Spikelets

2.2-3.7 mm.

Glumes

subequal, 1.8-3 mm, nearly as long as the lemmas, 1-veined, tapering from near the base, apices scabridulous, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;

lemmas 2.2-3.7 mm, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, hairy on the calluses, lower 1/2 of the midveins, and margins, hairs 0.2-0.5 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 5-18 mm, purplish;

paleas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, proximal 1/2 shortly pilose, apices scabridulous, acuminate;

anthers 0.4-0.8 mm, yellow.

Caryopses

1.4-2 mm, fusiform, brown.

2n

= 40.

Muhlenbergia sylvatica

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
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Discussion

Muhlenbergia sylvatica grows in upland forests, along creeks and hollows, on rocky ledges derived from sandstone, shale, or calcareous parent materials, moist prairies, and swamps, at elevations from 30-1500 m. It is restricted to the Flora region, its primary range being southeastern Canada and the midwestern and eastern United States. Reports from British Columbia were based on a misidentification (Douglas et al. 2002). The record from Arizona is based on the report in Kearney and Peebles (1951) of a collection made by Toumey at Grapevine Creek in the Grand Canyon.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 160.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia
Sibling taxa
M. andina, M. appressa, M. arenacea, M. arenicola, M. arizonica, M. arsenei, M. asperifolia, M. brevis, M. bushii, M. californica, M. capillaris, M. crispiseta, M. curtifolia, M. cuspidata, M. depauperata, M. diversiglumis, M. dubia, M. dumosa, M. elongata, M. eludens, M. emersleyi, M. expansa, M. filiculmis, M. filiformis, M. fragilis, M. frondosa, M. glabrifloris, M. glauca, M. glomerata, M. jonesii, M. lindheimeri, M. longiligula, M. mexicana, M. microsperma, M. minutissima, M. montana, M. palmeri, M. pauciflora, M. pectinata, M. peruviana, M. polycaulis, M. porteri, M. pungens, M. racemosa, M. ramulosa, M. repens, M. reverchonii, M. richardsonis, M. rigens, M. rigida, M. schreberi, M. sericea, M. setifolia, M. sinuosa, M. sobolifera, M. spiciformis, M. straminea, M. tenuiflora, M. tenuifolia, M. texana, M. thurberi, M. torreyana, M. torreyi, M. uniflora, M. utilis, M. villiflora, M. wrightii, M. ×curtisetosa, M. ×involuta
Synonyms M. sylvatica var. robusta, M. sylvatica forma attenuata
Name authority (Torn) Torr. ex A. Gray
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