Muhlenbergia tenuifolia |
Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
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mesa muhly, slender muhly |
muhlenbergie tenue, slender muhly, slender satin grass, slimflower muhly |
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Habit | Plants annual or short-lived perennials; cespitose, not rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. |
Culms | 20-70 cm, erect or decumbent; internodes mostly scabridulous or smooth, always scabridulous below the nodes. |
40-120 cm tall, less than 2 mm thick, erect; internodes mostly pubescent, retrorsely hirsute to strigose 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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Spikelets | 2-4 mm, often purplish, borne singly. |
2.6-4.5 mm, overlapping the next spikelet on the branch by 1/4 of its length. |
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. |
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. |
Caryopses | 1-2.2 mm, narrowly fusiform, brownish. |
2-2.3 mm, fusiform, brown. |
Cleistogamous | panicles not present. |
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2n | = 20, 40. |
= 40. |
Muhlenbergia tenuifolia |
Muhlenbergia tenuiflora |
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Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX
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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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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 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 162. | FNA vol. 25, p. 160. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Muhlenbergia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. monticola | M. tenuiflora var. variabilis |
Name authority | (Kunth) Trin. | (Willd.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. |
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