Muhlenbergia sylvatica
Plants perennial; rhizomatous. Culms 40-110 cm tall, 1-2 mm thick, erect; internodes puberulent for most of their length, strigose below the nodes. Sheaths glabrous and smooth for most of their length, scabridulous distally, margins hyaline; ligules 1-2.5 mm, membranous, truncate, lacerate-ciliolate; blades 5-18 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, flat, scabrous to scabridulous, occasionally smooth. Panicles terminal and axillary, 6-21 cm long, 0.2-1 cm wide, narrow, not dense; axillary panicles usually exserted at maturity; branches 0.8-6 cm, ascending to closely appressed; pedicels 0.8-3.5 mm, strigose. Spikelets 2.2-3.7 mm. Glumes subequal, 1.8-3 mm, nearly as long as the lemmas, 1-veined, tapering from near the base, apices scabridulous, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm; lemmas 2.2-3.7 mm, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, hairy on the calluses, lower 1/2 of the midveins, and margins, hairs 0.2-0.5 mm, apices scabridulous, acuminate, awned, awns 5-18 mm, purplish; paleas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, proximal 1/2 shortly pilose, apices scabridulous, acuminate; anthers 0.4-0.8 mm, yellow. Caryopses 1.4-2 mm, fusiform, brown. 2n = 40.
Distribution
Conn., N.J., N.Y., W.Va., Del., D.C, Wis., Ont., Que., N.H., Tex., N.C., Tenn., Pa., Kans., Nebr., Okla., S.Dak., R.I., Va., Mass., Maine, Vt., Ala., Ark., Ill., Ga., Ind., Iowa, Ariz., Md., Ohio, Mo., Minn., Mich., Miss., S.C., Ky.
Discussion
Muhlenbergia sylvatica grows in upland forests, along creeks and hollows, on rocky ledges derived from sandstone, shale, or calcareous parent materials, moist prairies, and swamps, at elevations from 30-1500 m. It is restricted to the Flora region, its primary range being southeastern Canada and the midwestern and eastern United States. Reports from British Columbia were based on a misidentification (Douglas et al. 2002). The record from Arizona is based on the report in Kearney and Peebles (1951) of a collection made by Toumey at Grapevine Creek in the Grand Canyon.
Selected References
None.