Muhlenbergia torreyana

(Schult.) Hitchc.
Common names: New jersey muhly
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 179.

Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not cespitose. Culms 30-75 cm, compressed and keeled; internodes mostly glabrous, strigose on the keels and below the nodes. Sheaths strigose on the keels, basal sheaths much shorter than those above; ligules 0.3-1 mm, firm, truncate, ciliate; blades 6-20 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, conduplicate, scabrous on both surfaces, tapering to a fine sharp point. Panicles 10-28 cm long, 4-8 cm wide, cylindrical, open; primary branches 3-10 cm long, 0.05-0.1 mm thick, capillary, diverging 30-40° from the rachises, never appearing fascicled; pedicels 1.5-9 mm, usually longer than the spikelets. Spikelets 1.1-2.2 mm, occasionally with 2 florets. Glumes equal, 1-2 mm, purplish, scabridulous, 1-veined, acute, unawned; lemmas 1.1-2.2 mm, lanceolate, plumbeous, scabridulous, apices acute, unawned; paleas 1-2.1 mm, lanceolate, scabridulous, acute; anthers 1-1.4 mm, orange-yellow, turning purple at maturity. Caryopses about 1 mm, fusiform, brownish. 2n = unknown.

Distribution

Md., N.J., Del., N.C., Tenn., N.Y., Ga.

Discussion

Muhlenbergia torreyana grows in perennially wet or moist, usually seasonally inundated habitats such as the sphagnous margins of shallow ponds and seasonally wet depressions, often within pine-oak or oak barrens and at elevations of 0-150 m. Kartesz and Meacham (1999) report that it appears to have been eliminated from New York, Delaware, and Georgia but that, in addition to the locations shown on the map, it grows in Maryland and New Jersey. Hitchcock (1951) reported that it grew in Kentucky, but no specimens documenting its presence there have been located. It is rare even in those states where it is still growing.

Morphologically, Muhlenbergia torreyana resembles the western M. asperifolia but differs in its strigose, strongly compressed, keeled culms and less strongly divergent panicle branches.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Muhlenbergia torreyana"
orange-yellow +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br />) +
awned +  and entire +
Paul M. Peterson +
(Schult.) Hitchc. +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
sinuous +, flexuous +  and straight +
multiple +, , +  and single +
curled +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
tapering +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
spikelike +
with hairs +  and glabrous +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
New jersey muhly +
keeled +  and compressed +
30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br /> (75 cm750 mm <br />0.75 m <br />) +
Md. +, N.J. +, Del. +, N.C. +, Tenn. +, N.Y. +  and Ga. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
bisexual +  and fertile +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
scabridulous +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
uncinate +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
strigose +  and glabrous +
not absent +
scabridulous +
lanceolate +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br />) +
acuminate +  and truncate +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
inconspicuous +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
scabridulous +
acute +  and lanceolate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
10cm +  and 28cm +
cleistogamous +
cylindrical +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.9 cm9 mm <br />0.009 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
0.005 cm0.05 mm <br />5.0e-5 m <br /> (0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br />) +
spikelike +
1 +  and 60 +
compressed +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br />) +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Muhlenbergia torreyana +
Muhlenbergia +
species +
membranous +
shorter than to longer than the florets +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
plant +  and not cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +, monoecious +  and synoecious +