Muhlenbergia rigida

(Kunth) Trin.
Common names: Purple muhly
Synonyms: Muhlenbergia metcalfei
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 190.

Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms 40-100 cm, erect, not conspicuously branched; internodes mostly smooth, sometimes scabridulous below the nodes. Sheaths 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. Panicles 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. Spikelets 3.5-5 mm, purplish. Glumes 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. Caryopses 2-3.5 mm, fusiform, brownish. 2n = 40, 44.

Discussion

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Muhlenbergia rigida"
0.17 cm1.7 mm <br />0.0017 m <br /> (0.23 cm2.3 mm <br />0.0023 m <br />) +
acuminate +
Paul M. Peterson +
(Kunth) Trin. +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
flexuous +
multiple +, , +  and single +
curled +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (2.2 cm22 mm <br />0.022 m <br />) +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br /> (35 cm350 mm <br />0.35 m <br />) +
scabridulous +  and smooth +
involute +  and flat +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
spikelike +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Purple muhly +
geniculate +
40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br /> (100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br />) +
Ariz. +, N.Mex. +  and Tex. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
bisexual +  and fertile +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
glabrous +  and hirtellous +
obtuse +  and subacute +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.17 cm1.7 mm <br />0.0017 m <br />) +
uncinate +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br />) +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
scabridulous +
not absent +
lanceolate +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
lacerate +, obtuse +  and acute +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
scabridulous +
acuminate +  and lanceolate +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
10cm +  and 35cm +
cleistogamous +
spikelike +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
diverging;usually appressed;ascending +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
spikelike +
scabridulous +  and smooth +
1 +  and 60 +
compressed +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Muhlenbergia metcalfei +
Muhlenbergia rigida +
Muhlenbergia +
species +
membranous +
shorter than to longer than the florets +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +, monoecious +  and synoecious +