Muhlenbergia torreyi
Muhlenbergia rigens
ring muhly
deer grass, deer muhly
10-40(50) cm, decumbent, usually all the nodes concealed by the sheaths;
internodes mostly scabrous or smooth, hispidulous below the nodes.
(35)50-150 cm tall, to 5 mm thick near the base, stiffly erect, not rooting at the lower nodes;
internodes glabrous.
longer than the internodes, smooth or scabridulous, rounded dorsally, bases somewhat flat and chartaceous;
ligules 0.5-2(3) mm, firm, truncate, usually ciliolate;
blades 10-50 cm long, 1.5-6 mm wide, flat or involute, stiff, glabrous abaxially, scabrous 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.
15-60 cm long, 0.5-1.2 cm wide, spikelike, dense, grayish-green, often interrupted below;
primary branches 0.2-4 cm, appressed;
pedicels 0.2-3 mm, hispidulous, strongly divergent.
2-3.5 mm.
2.4-4 mm.
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.
subequal, 1.8-3.2 mm, almost as long as the florets, scabrous to scabridulous, 1-veined, usually acute or obtuse, occasionally acuminate or notched, occasionally mucronate, mucros to 0.6 mm;
lemmas 2.4-4 mm, lanceolate, pubescent on the calluses, lower 1/6 of the margins, and midveins, hairs to 0.4 mm, apices scabrous, acute or obtuse, unawned, rarely mucronate, mucros to 1 mm;
paleas 2.3-3.8 mm, lanceolate, acute;
anthers 1.3-1.8 mm, yellow to purple.
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, brownish.
1.8-2.2 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 20, 21.
= 40.
Muhlenbergia torreyi
Muhlenbergia rigens
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 rigens grows in sandy washes, gravelly canyon bottoms, rocky drainages, and moist, sandy slopes, often along small streams, at elevations of 90-2500 m. Its geographic range extends to central Mexico. It is available commercially as an ornamental. Muhlenbergia rigens is similar to M. dubia, but differs in having tighter, spikelike panicles, shorter ligules, yellow or purplish anthers, and shorter lemmas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CalFlora
KS Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
