394 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



to M. sobolifera in habit; culms often 

 more robust; blades mostly 10 to 18 

 cm. long and 6 to 10 mm. wide; 

 panicles on the average longer; culms 

 retrorsely puberulent at least around 

 the nodes; sheaths puberulent or 

 scaberulous toward the summit; 

 spikelets (excluding the awns) 3 to 

 4 mm. long, the glumes about half 

 as long, broad at base, abrupt ly 

 acuminate, scaberulous; lemma nar- 

 row, pubescent toward the base, 

 tapering into a slender straight awn 

 3 to 10 mm. long. Q| — Rocky 

 woods, Ontario and Vermont to 

 Iowa, south to Georgia, Tennessee, 

 and Oklahoma. 



37. Muhlenbergia brachyphylla 

 Bush. (Fig. 556.) Perennial, with nu- 

 merous slender scaly rhizomes ; culms 

 slender, suberect, freely branching at 

 the middle nodes, the branches lax, 

 glabrous or obscurely scabrous below 

 the nodes; blades flat, spreading, sca- 

 berulous, mostly 7 to 15 cm. long and 

 3 to 5 mm. wide; panicles on filiform 

 peduncles, very slender, lax, relatively 

 few-flowered, mostly 8 to 15 cm. 

 long; spikelets, excluding the awn, 

 about 3 mm. long, the glumes about 

 two-thirds as long, awn-tipped; lem- 

 ma minutely pubescent toward the 

 base, tapering into a slender awn 3 to 

 6 mm. long, rarefy shorter. % — 

 Low woods, Maryland to North Caro- 

 lina; Indiana and Wisconsin to Ne- 

 braska, south to Texas. Resembling 

 M. tenuiflora, but with numerous fili- 

 form branches and more slender pan- 

 icles. 



38. Muhlenbergia frondosa (Poir.) 

 Fernald. Wirestem mtjhly. (Fig. 

 557.) Perennial, with creeping scaly 

 rhizomes ; culms often relatively stout, 

 glabrous below the nodes, finally de- 

 cumbent, often rooting at the genic- 

 ulate lower nodes, freely branching 

 from all the nodes (occasionally 

 simple below), the branches ascend- 

 ing or somewhat spreading, the plants 

 becoming top-heavy and bushy, 40 to 

 100 cm. long; blades flat, scabrous, 

 usually not more than 10 cm. long, 

 sometimes as much as 15 cm., 3 to 7 



Figure 555. — Muhlenbergia tenuiflora. Plant, X 1 ; 

 glumes and floret, X 10. (Mosley, Ohio.) 



the culm ; panicles slender, somewhat 

 nodding, mostly 5 to 15 cm. long, 

 the distant branches appressed, flo- 

 riferous from base, overlapping or 

 the lower more distant; spikelets 

 mostly 2 to 2.5 mm. long, the glumes 

 about two-thirds as long, abrupt ly 

 acuminate or awn-tipped; lemma 

 elliptic, bluntish, pubescent on the 

 lower part, usually apiculate. % 

 — Dry rocky woods and cliffs, New 

 Hampshire to Nebraska, south to 

 Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. 



Muhlenbergia sobolifera var. 

 setigera Scribn. (Fig. 554, B.) 

 Branching more freely in the later 

 stages; lemma with an awn 1 to 3 

 mm. long. Ql — Dry woods, Ar- 

 kansas and Texas. 



36. Muhlenbergia tenuiflora 

 (Wffld.) B. S. P. (Fig. ddd.) Similar 



