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Muhlenbergia wrightii - spike muhly

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No

Grass Description

Origin
Native
Season
Warm

Grows in gravelly grasslands, on rocky slopes, woodland and forest openings and in dry meadows on granitic, sandstone, or limestone soils.

Plant Community
Grasslands
Montane Conifer Forest
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Low elevation
4000
High elevation
9000

General Description

Loose clumps 1 to 2 feet wide, 1/2 to 2 feet high. Stems wiry looking when mature and dried.

Tufted perennial; clumps to 2 feet wide and tall, wiry stems. Blades flat. Sheaths ridged, smooth, ligule square, membranous. Seedhead dense, narrow, often with gaps of no spikelets. Glumes awn pointed. Lemmas often awn-tipped.

Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
Yes
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
October

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
One-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Less than 1/4 inch
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes

Dense spikelike seedheads with appressed branches that are spikelet bearing to the base but often have gaps of no spikelets. Spikelets single flowered, dark green or lead-colored; glumes equal, abruptly narrowed to a sharp point or a very short awn.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Involute – rolled inward on upper surface

Blades up to 5 inches long, folded or rolled inward at the edges, smooth or slightly hairy.

Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No

Good.