Muhlenbergia asperifolia

(Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi
Common names: Scratchgrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 179.

Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose, occasionally: stoloniferous. Culms 10-60 (100) cm, decumbent-ascending, bases somewhat compressed-keeled; internodes glabrous, shiny below the nodes. Sheaths glabrous, margins hyaline; ligules 0.2-1 mm, firm, truncate, ciliate, without lateral lobes; blades 2-7 (11) cm long, 1-2.8 (4) mm wide, flat, occasionally conduplicate, smooth or scabridulous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins and midveins not conspicuously thickened, greenish, apices acute, not sharp. Panicles 6-21 cm long, 4-16 cm wide, broadly ovoid, open; primary branches 3-12 cm, capillary, lower branches spreading 30-90° from the rachises, never appearing fascicled; pedicels 3-14 mm, longer than the spikelets. Spikelets 1.2-2.1 mm, occasionally with 2 or 3 florets. Glumes equal, 0.6-1.7 mm, purplish, scabridulous, particularly on the veins, 1-veined, apices acute; lemmas 1.2-2.1 mm, lanceolate to oblongelliptic, somewhat plumbeous, glabrous, usually smooth, occasionally scabridulous near the apices, apices acute, unawned or mucronate, mucros to 0.3 mm; paleas 1.2-2.1 mm, lanceolate, glabrous, acute; anthers 1-1.3 mm, greenish-yellow to purplish at maturity. Caryopses 0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish. 2n = 20, 22, 28.

Distribution

Wash., Alta., B.C., Man., Ont., Sask., Wis., Wyo., N.Mex., Tex., N.Y., Pa., Nev., Colo., Calif., Kans., N.Dak., Nebr., Okla., S.Dak., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ariz., Idaho, Md., Ohio, Utah, Mo., Minn., Mich., Mont., Ky., Oreg.

Discussion

Muhlenbergia asperifolia grows in moist, often alkaline meadows, playa margins, and sandy washes, on grassy slopes, and around seeps and hot springs, at elevations of 55-3000 m. Its geographic range includes northern Mexico. Muhlenbergia asperifolia is morphologically similar to the southeastern M. torreyana, but differs in having glabrous, weakly compressed culms and more widely divergent panicle branches.

The caryopses of Muhlenbergia asperifolia are frequently infected by a smut, Tilletia asperifolia Ellis & Everhart, which produces a globose body filled with blackish-brown spores.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Muhlenbergia asperifolia"
28 +, 22 +  and 20 +
greenish-yellow +  and purplish +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br />) +
awned +  and entire +
mucronate +, acute +  and not sharp +
Paul M. Peterson +
(Nees & Meyen ex Trin.) Parodi +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
sinuous +, flexuous +  and straight +
multiple +, , +  and single +
curled +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
compressed-keeled +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
scabridulous +  and smooth +
involute +, folded +  and flat +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.28 cm2.8 mm <br />0.0028 m <br />) +
spikelike +
with hairs +  and glabrous +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Scratchgrass +
decumbent-ascending +
geniculate +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (60 cm600 mm <br />0.6 m <br />) +
Wash. +, Alta. +, B.C. +, Man. +, Ont. +, Sask. +, Wis. +, Wyo. +, N.Mex. +, Tex. +, N.Y. +, Pa. +, Nev. +, Colo. +, Calif. +, Kans. +, N.Dak. +, Nebr. +, Okla. +, S.Dak. +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Iowa +, Ariz. +, Idaho +, Md. +, Ohio +, Utah +, Mo. +, Minn. +, Mich. +, Mont. +, Ky. +  and Oreg. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
bisexual +  and fertile +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
scabridulous +
0.06 cm0.6 mm <br />6.0e-4 m <br /> (0.17 cm1.7 mm <br />0.0017 m <br />) +
uncinate +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
scabridulous +
lanceolate +  and oblongelliptic +
0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
acuminate +  and truncate +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
inconspicuous +
greenish +  and hyaline +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br />) +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
acute +  and lanceolate +
0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
6cm +  and 21cm +
cleistogamous +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br />) +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (1.4 cm14 mm <br />0.014 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
spikelike +
1 +  and 60 +
compressed +
0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Muhlenbergia asperifolia +
Muhlenbergia +
species +
membranous +
shorter than to longer than the florets +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
stoloniferous +  and rhizomatous +
stoloniferous +  and rhizomatous +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +, monoecious +  and synoecious +