Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
Muhlenbergia glauca |
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muhlenbergie tenue, slender muhly, slender satin grass, slimflower muhly |
desert muhly |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes slender, well-developed. |
Culms | 40-120 cm tall, less than 2 mm thick, erect; internodes mostly pubescent, retrorsely hirsute to strigose below the nodes. |
25-60 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, often decumbent, sometimes erect; internodes mostly scabrous, retrorsely hispidulous below the nodes. |
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. |
longer than the internodes, scabridulous; ligules 0.5-2 mm, truncate to obtuse, erose or lacerate; blades 4-12 cm long, 1-2.6 mm wide, flat to involute distally, not arcuate, scabrous abaxially, hirsute or scabrous adaxially. |
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. |
4-12(17) cm long, 0.3-2.4 cm wide, contracted, interrupted below; branches 0.3-3 cm, usually appressed, occasionally diverging up to 30° from the rachises; pedicels 0.1-1.2 mm, scabrous to hirsute. |
Spikelets | 2.6-4.5 mm, overlapping the next spikelet on the branch by 1/4 of its length. |
2.4-3.5 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. |
equal, 1.5-3.5 mm, 1-veined, veins scabrous, apices acute or acuminate, usually awned, awns, if present, to 1.5 mm; lemmas 2.4-3.4 mm, elliptic, pubescent on the lower the 1/2 of the midveins and margins, hairs to 0.6 mm, tawny, apices acuminate to acute, awned, awns 0.1-3(5) mm; paleas 2.2-3.4 mm, elliptic, intercostal region pubescent on the lower 1/2, apices acuminate to acute; anthers 1.8-2.4 mm, orange. |
Caryopses | 2-2.3 mm, fusiform, brown. |
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brownish. |
2n | = 40. |
= 60. |
Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
Muhlenbergia glauca |
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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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AZ; CA; NM; TX |
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 glauca grows on calcareous rocky slopes, cliffs, canyon walls, table rocks, and volcanic rock outcrops, at elevations of 1200-2780 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico. M. glauca resembles M. polycaulis, but differs in its shorter lemma awns and strongly rhizomatous habit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 160. | FNA vol. 25, p. 165. |
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. | (Nees) B.D. Jacks. |
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