Muhlenbergia torreyi
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri
ring muhly
Lindheimer's muhly
10-40(50) cm, decumbent, usually all the nodes concealed by the sheaths;
internodes mostly scabrous or smooth, hispidulous below the nodes.
50-150 cm, stout, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes;
internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes puberulent below the nodes.
shorter or longer than the internodes, glabrous, basal sheaths laterally compressed, keeled, not becoming spirally coiled when old;
ligules 10-35 mm, firm and brown basally, membranous distally, acuminate;
blades 25-55 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat or folded, firm, scabridulous abaxially, scabrous and shortly pubescent adaxially.
strongly basally concentrated, most blades not reaching more than 1/5 of the plant height;
sheaths shorter than the internodes, rounded, not keeled, scabridulous or smooth, not becoming spirally coiled when old;
ligules 2-5(7) mm, hyaline, acuminate, lacerate, often with lateral lobes;
blades 1-3(5) cm long, 0.3-0.9 mm wide, tightly involute or folded, arcuate, scabridulous, midveins and margins not thickened, green, apices somewhat sharp-pointed.
7-21 cm long, 3-15 cm wide, diffuse;
primary branches 1-8 cm, diverging 30-90° from the rachises, stiff, naked basally;
pedicels 1-8 mm, sometimes appressed to the branches.
15-50 cm long, 0.6-3 cm wide, often purplish-tinged;
primary branches 0.5-7 cm, appressed or strongly ascending, rarely spreading as much as 20° from the rachises;
pedicels 0.5-1.2 mm, scabrous.
2-3.5 mm.
2.4-3.5 mm, light grayish.
equal, 1.3-2.5 mm, scabridulous, 1-veined, apices acute to acuminate, minutely erose, unawned or awned, awns to 1.1 mm;
lemmas 2-3.2(3.5) mm, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, appressed-pubescent on the basal 1/2 - 3/4 of the margins and midveins, apices scabrous, acuminate, awned, awns 0.5-4 mm;
paleas 2-3.2(3.5) mm, narrowly elliptic, intercostal region sparsely pubescent, apices acuminate;
anthers 1.2-2.1 mm, greenish.
equal, 2-3.5 mm, shorter than or equal to the florets, scabrous or smooth, 1-veined, obtuse to acute, occasionally bifid and the teeth to 0.3 mm, unawned, rarely mucronate, mucros less than 0.2 mm;
lemmas 2.4-3.5 mm, lanceolate, scabrous or smooth, rarely puberulent near the base, apices obtuse to acute, unawned or awned, awns to 4 mm, straight;
paleas 2.4-3.5 mm, lanceolate, obtuse;
anthers 1.1-1.5 mm, purplish.
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.2-1.6 mm, fusiform, reddish-brown.
= 20, 21.
= 20, 26.
Muhlenbergia torreyi
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri
Muhlenbergia torreyi grows in desert grasslands and open woodlands on sandy mesas, calcareous rock out-crops, and rocky slopes, at elevations of 1000-2450 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to northern Mexico. It also grows, as a disjunct, in northwestern Argentina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri grows in sandy draws to rocky, calcareous soils, generally in open areas, at elevations of 150-500 m. It is an uncommon species throughout its range, which includes northern Mexico in addition to southern Texas, but it is also grown as an ornamental. It differs from the closely related M. longiligula in its compressed-keeled basal sheaths, grayish spikelets, and, when present, bifid glume apices.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CalFlora
KS Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
