Plains muhly

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Plains muhly

Plains muhly inflorescence

Plains muhly

Plains muhly

Plains muhly

Plains muhly inflorescences

Plains muhly spikelets

Plains muhly

Morphology

Culm

Slender, stiffly erect, solid, flattened, minutely hairy below nodes, often thickened and bulblike at base; rhizomes absent. Forms tufts or small clumps.

Blades

Erect or ascending, flat, folded longitudinally or with margins loosely involute, 2 to 9 inches long, to .12 inch wide.

Sheath

Keeled, glabrous or rough.

Ligule

Minute, .01 to .02 inch, membranous.

Inflorescence

Panicle, very slender, spike-like, 2 to 5 inches tall, base not enclosed by sheath; branches short, appressed to rachis.

Spikelets

Short-stalked, 1-flowered, .1 to .16 inch; glumes nearly equal, 1-nerved, lanceolate-subulate, .06 to .12 inch, overlapping at base, tips sharply pointed , awnless or with minute awn; lemma lanceolate to narrowly ovate, .1 to .16 inch, 3-nerved, acuminate, awnless, minutely pubescent on back, otherwise glabrous.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairies, open hillsides, stony slopes; dry or gravelly soils.

Distribution

East 3/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The Navajo used the stems to make hair brushes and brooms.