Muhlenbergia tenuifolia |
Muhlenbergia glauca |
|
---|---|---|
mesa muhly, slender muhly |
desert muhly |
|
Habit | Plants annual or short-lived perennials; cespitose, not rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes slender, well-developed. |
Culms | 20-70 cm, erect or decumbent; internodes mostly scabridulous or smooth, always scabridulous below the nodes. |
25-60 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, often decumbent, sometimes erect; internodes mostly scabrous, retrorsely hispidulous below the nodes. |
Sheaths | usually shorter than the internodes, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous, usually without necrotic spots, not becoming spirally coiled when old; ligules 1.2-3(5) mm, membranous throughout, acute, often lacerate; blades 2-13 cm long, 1.2-2.5 mm wide, flat or loosely involute, scabridulous or glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, usually without necrotic spots. |
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 | numerous, terminal and axillary, 7-20 cm long, 0.3-1.4(3) cm wide, contracted, often lax, nodding, interrupted below; primary branches 3.5-7.5 cm, ascending or diverging up to 70° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to the base; pedicels 1-3 mm, antrorsely scabrous; disarticulation above the glumes. |
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 | 2-4 mm, often purplish, borne singly. |
2.4-3.5 mm. |
Glumes | 1.2-2.8 mm, shorter than the florets, 1-veined, veins scabrous, apices often erose, unawned or awned, awns to 0.5 mm; lower glumes 1.2-2 mm, acute to acuminate; upper glumes 1.5-2.8 mm, acute; lemmas 2-3.5(4) mm, lanceolate, mostly smooth, scabridulous distally, pubescent on the calluses, lower 1/2 of the midveins, and margins, hairs 0.5-1.5 mm, apices acuminate to acute, awned, awns 10-30 mm, scabrous, sinuous to flexuous; paleas 1.8-3.4(3.8) mm, lanceolate, sparsely villous basally, apices acuminate to acute; anthers 0.9-1.5 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 | 1-2.2 mm, narrowly fusiform, brownish. |
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brownish. |
Cleistogamous | panicles not present. |
|
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 60. |
Muhlenbergia tenuifolia |
Muhlenbergia glauca |
|
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX
|
AZ; CA; NM; TX |
Discussion | Muhlenbergia tenuifolia grows in gramma grasslands and pine-oak woodlands on rocky slopes, limestone rock outcrops, gravelly roadsides, and in sandy drainages, at elevations of 1200-2200 m. Its range extends through Mexico to northern South America. (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. 162. | FNA vol. 25, p. 165. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. monticola | |
Name authority | (Kunth) Trin. | (Nees) B.D. Jacks. |
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