Muhlenbergia uniflora
Muhlenbergia rigida
bog muhly, muhlenbergie uniflore
purple muhly
5-45 cm, arising from the bases of old depressed culms, compressed-keeled, developing branches below the lower leaf nodes;
internodes mostly glabrous, sometimes minutely puberulent below the nodes.
40-100 cm, erect, not conspicuously branched;
internodes mostly smooth, sometimes scabridulous below the nodes.
longer than the internodes, keeled, keels scabridulous, not becoming papery or spirally coiled when old;
ligules 0.5-1.5 mm, membranous, truncate to obtuse, erose, without lateral lobes;
blades 1-15 cm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, flat to conduplicate, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially, midveins thickened and whitish proximally.
longer than the internodes, smooth or scabridulous, basal sheaths rounded, not becoming spirally coiled when old;
ligules (1)3-12(15) mm, firmer basally than distally, obtuse to acute, often lacerate;
blades 12-35 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous or hirtellous adaxially.
2-20 cm long, (0.2)2.5-6 cm wide, diffuse;
primary branches 0.4-6 cm long, about 0.1 mm thick, ascending, diverging 10-60° from the rachises, naked basally;
pedicels 0.2-7 mm, glabrous.
10-35 cm long, 2-5(12) cm wide, loosely contracted to open, purplish;
primary branches 0.4-10 cm, lax, capillary, usually appressed to ascending, occasionally diverging up to 80° from the rachises, naked basally;
pedicels 1-10 mm.
1.3-2.1 mm, dark purplish to plumbeous, occasionally with 2 florets.
3.5-5 mm, purplish.
equal, 0.4-1.3 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, apices scabrous, acute to obtuse, sometimes erose or notched, unawned;
lemmas 1.2-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, dark purplish to plumbeous, glabrous, faintly 3-veined, apices acute to obtuse, unawned;
paleas 1.3-2.1 mm, oblong-elliptic, glabrous, acute to obtuse;
anthers 0.6-0.9 mm, dark purple.
equal, 1-1.7(2) mm, exceeded by the florets, usually glabrous, sometimes mostly hirtellous but glabrous distally, 1-veined, obtuse to subacute, unawned;
lemmas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, purplish, calluses hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm, lemma bodies scabridulous to scabrous, apices acuminate, awned, awns 10-22 mm, clearly demarcated from the lemma bodies, flexuous;
paleas 3.5-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, scabridulous, acuminate;
anthers 1.7-2.3 mm, purplish.
0.6-0.8 mm, ovoid, brownish.
2-3.5 mm, fusiform, brownish.
= 42.
= 40, 44.
Muhlenbergia uniflora
Muhlenbergia rigida
Muhlenbergia uniflora grows in bogs, wet meadows, and lake shores in sandy or peaty, often acidic, soils, at elevations of 0-650 m. It is native to eastern North America, but was collected once in British Columbia, probably having been introduced from ship ballast, and was recently collected from a commercial cranberry bog in Oregon. The collection from Texas may also be an introduction.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Muhlenbergia rigida grows on rocky slopes, ravines, and sandy, gravelly slopes derived from granitic and calcareous substrates, at elevations of 1200-2200 m. It is often a common upland bunchgrass, and is also grown as an ornamental plant.
Muhlenbergia rigida grows in two disjunct areas: the southwestern United States south to Chiapas, Mexico, and in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It differs from M. setifolia and M. reverchonii in its purplish, scabridulous to scabrous lemmas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
Flora NW
Go Botany
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
