Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
Muhlenbergia arsenei |
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muhlenbergie tenue, slender muhly, slender satin grass, slimflower muhly |
Navajo muhly, tough muhly |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes sometimes short and the plants loosely cespitose. |
Culms | 40-120 cm tall, less than 2 mm thick, erect; internodes mostly pubescent, retrorsely hirsute to strigose below the nodes. |
10-50 cm tall, 0.4-1 mm thick, decumbent; internodes glabrous or strigulose. |
Sheaths | mostly glabrous, usually pubescent near the base, scabridulous distally; ligules 0.4-1.2 mm, membranous, truncate, ciliolate; blades 6-20 cm long, 4-10(15) mm wide, flat, glabrous and smooth abaxially, occasionally scabridulous adaxially. |
shorter than the internodes, strigulose or glabrous, usually without necrotic spots, not becoming spirally coiled when old; ligules 1-2 mm, membranous throughout, obtuse, strigulose or glabrous, erose or toothed, with lateral lobes, lobes less than 1.5 mm longer than the central portion; blades 1-6 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat to involute, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, hirsute adaxially, usually without necrotic spots. |
Panicles | usually terminal, 10-33 cm long, 0.2-0.8 cm wide, exserted; branches 1-10 cm, ascending to appressed; pedicels 1-6 mm, strigose. |
4-13 cm long, 1-3(5) cm wide, not dense; primary branches 0.5-4 cm, appressed or diverging up to 30° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to the base; pedicels 0.1-3 mm. |
Spikelets | 2.6-4.5 mm, overlapping the next spikelet on the branch by 1/4 of its length. |
3.5-5 mm. |
Glumes | subequal, 1.3-3 mm, shorter than the lemmas, 1-veined (lower glumes rarely 2- or 3-veined), tapering from near the base, bases overlapping, apices scabridulous, acute, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm; lemmas 2.6-4.5 mm, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, usually pubescent on the calluses, lower 1/3 of the midveins, and margins (hairs sometimes restricted to the callus), hairs shorter than 1.2 mm, apices acute or acuminate, usually awned, awns to 12 mm; paleas 2.6-4.5 mm, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, shortly pilose on the lower portion, apices acuminate; anthers 1.1-2.2 mm, yellowish. |
subequal, 2-4 mm, exceeded by the florets, 1-veined, scabrous on the veins and near the apices, apices acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1.2 mm; lemmas 3.5-5 mm, lanceolate, mostly purplish, veins conspicuously green, pubescent on the lower 1/3-1/2 of the midveins and margins, hairs to 1.5 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 4-12(20) mm, flexuous; paleas 3.5-5 mm, narrow-lanceolate, intercostal region pubescent, apices acuminate, veins sometimes extending into awns to 0.5 mm; anthers 1.3-3 mm, purple. |
Caryopses | 2-2.3 mm, fusiform, brown. |
2-2.3 mm, fusiform, brownish. |
2n | = 40. |
= unknown. |
Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
Muhlenbergia arsenei |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
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CA; NM; NV; UT |
Discussion | Muhlenbergia tenuiflora grows only in the Flora region, usually being found on sandy or rocky slopes derived from sandstone, chert, or limestone formations, in mixed hardwood and oak-hickory forests, at elevations of 40-1500 m. It resembles the Asiatic species M. curviaristata (Ohwi) Ohwi. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Muhlenbergia arsenei grows among granitic boulders, on rocky slopes, limestone rock outcrops, and in arroyos, at elevations of 1400-2850 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into Baja California, Mexico. It flowers from August to September. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 160. | FNA vol. 25, p. 169. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. tenuiflora var. variabilis | |
Name authority | (Willd.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. | Hitchc. |
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