Part 7 - UNC Herbarium

POACEAE 896
flexuous, and fragile, tending to break up over the winter (vs. fine-textured but not capillary, the branches rigid and ascending,
more likely to persist over the winter in relatively intact condition). The vegetative characters listed above and under
Calamovilfa brevipilis are also useful. See M. capillaris for discussion of Morden & Hatch (1989) advocating varietal status for
the three taxa in the M. capillaris-expansa-sericea complex. [= RAB, F, FNA, GW, HC, S; = M. capillaris var. trichopodes
(Elliott) Vasey – C, K]
Muhlenbergia frondosa (Poiret) Fernald, Smooth Wirestem Muhly. Mt, Pd (GA, NC, VA), Cp (NC): moist forests and
disturbed areas; uncommon (rare in Piedmont and Coastal Plain). September-October. This species is widespread in e. North
America, south to ne. GA and west into the Plains. [= RAB, C, F, FNA, G, GW, HC, K, W; = M. mexicana – S, misapplied]
Muhlenbergia glabriflora Scribner, Clay-pan Muhly. Pd (NC, VA): in clayey soils (such as those derived from diabase);
rare (NC Watch List, VA Rare). October-November. VA and NC west to IA, MO, AL, and TX, local and apparently rare in all
of that range. In NC, only known from one collection, that from Durham County in 1936, with vague habitat data. F describes
the habitat as "dry exsiccated or baked soils, prairies, gravels or rocky slopes," Pohl (1969) as "mostly on low ground, in shade on
heavy clay soils." [= C, F, G, HC, K; = M. glabrifloris – FNA, orthographic variant]
Muhlenbergia glomerata (Willdenow) Trinius, Spiked Muhly. Mt (NC, VA): fens and seeps over mafic (amphibolite) or
ultramafic (olivine) rocks; rare (NC Rare, VA Rare). August-October. This species is widespread in n. North America, ranging
south in a scattered and disjunct pattern to NC. [= RAB, C, F, FNA, GW, HC, K, W; < M. racemosa (Michaux) Britton, Sterns,
& Poggenburg – G, S]
Muhlenbergia mexicana (Linnaeus) Trinius, Hairy Wirestem Muhly. Mt (NC, VA), Pd (VA): forest edges; rare (NC
Watch List). September-October. The epithet is a misnomer; the species is largely northern, occurring nearly throughout the
United States and s. Canada. [= RAB, C, F, G, HC, K, W; > M. mexicana var. filiformis (Torrey) Scribner – FNA; > M.
mexicana var. mexicana – FNA; = M. foliosa (Roemer & J.A. Schultes) Trinius – S]
Muhlenbergia schreberi J.F. Gmelin, Nimblewill, Dropseed. Mt, Pd, Cp (GA, NC, SC, VA): bottomland and other moist
forests, disturbed areas; common. August-October. This species is widespread in e. United States. [= RAB, C, F, FNA, GW,
HC, K, S, W; > M. schreberi var. schreberi – G; > M. schreberi var. palustris (Scribner) Scribner – G; > M. palustris Scribner]
Muhlenbergia sericea (Michaux) P.M. Peterson, Dune Hairgrass, Sweet Grass. Cp (GA, NC, SC): maritime dry
grasslands, maritime wet grasslands, interdune swales, low dunes, sometimes edges of freshwater or brackish marshes, apparently
limited to the barrier islands (sometimes in close proximity with M. capillaris); uncommon, though sometimes locally abundant
(SC Rare). October-November. This species is a very conspicuous part of the Outer Banks flora in the autumn, especially showy
and abundant between Rodanthe (Chicamacomico) and Avon (Kinnakeet), Dare County, NC, and also abundant on Ocracoke
Island, Hyde County, NC. The capillary pedicels and awns of its purple inflorescences are so light as to be moved by the
slightest breeze. By December or January they fade to tan, but remain showy. This grass is a major component of baskets made
in the Low Country of SC by the Gullah, who call it "sweet grass." I agree with Curtis (1843), Blomquist (1948), Pinson &
Batson (1971), Gould (1975), and others who consider M. sericea (as M. filipes) a species distinct from M. capillaris. Its range is
from NC (slightly north of Oregon Inlet, Dare County, south of Nags Head) south to FL and west to TX, primarily on barrier
islands. In addition to a discussion of its relationship to M. capillaris, Pinson and Batson (1971) and Morden & Hatch (1989)
provide descriptions, not elsewhere available. See M. capillaris for a discussion of a recent paper (Morden & Hatch 1989)
advocating varietal status for the three taxa in the M. capillaris-expansa-sericea complex. [= FNA; < M. capillaris – RAB, GW;
= M. capillaris var. filipes (M.A. Curtis) Chapman ex Beal – HC, K, S; = M. filipes M.A. Curtis]
Muhlenbergia sobolifera (Muhlenberg ex Willdenow) Trinius, Rock Muhly. Mt (GA, NC, VA), Pd (VA): dry wooded
limestone slopes, rock outcrops and rocky forests; uncommon (GA Special Concern, NC Watch List). July-September. This
species is widespread in e. United States, south to AL. [= RAB, C, F, FNA, G, HC, K, S, W]
Muhlenbergia sylvatica Torrey ex A. Gray, Woodland Muhly. Mt (GA, NC, SC, VA), Pd (NC, VA), Cp (VA): bottomland
and other moist forests, calcareous strembanks; rare (GA SPecial Concern, NC Watch List). September. This species is
widespread in e. United States, south to ne. GA. [= RAB, C, FNA, K, W; > M. sylvatica var. sylvatica – F, G, GW, HC; = M.
umbrosa Scribner – S]
Muhlenbergia tenuiflora (Willdenow) Britton, Sterns, & Poggenburg, Slender Muhly. Mt, Pd (GA, NC, VA), Cp (VA),
{SC}: moist forests and disturbed areas, up to at least 1400m; uncommon (rare in Piedmont). August-October. This species is
widespread in e. United States. Two varieties are sometimes recognized: var. tenuiflora, with lemma awn 4-11 mm long and the
sheaths and stems retrorsely hirsute, especially around the nodes, and var. variabilis (endemic to the Southern Appalachians),
with lemma awn 1-4 mm long or absent, and the sheaths and stems glabrous or nearly so. The validity of the varieties needs
further assessment. [= RAB, F, FNA, G, HC, K, S, W; > M. tenuiflora var. tenuiflora – C; > M. tenuiflora var. variabilis
(Scribner) Pohl – C]
Muhlenbergia torreyana (J.A. Schultes) A.S. Hitchcock, Pinebarren Smokegrass. Cp (GA, NC): moist soils of depression
meadows and clay-based Carolina bays, often under or near Taxodium ascendens; rare (GA Special Concern, NC Endangered).
August-November. NJ to GA in the Coastal Plain, and disjunct in KY and TN; currently known to be extant only in NJ, NC, and
TN. It was first discovered in NC in 1987. Although it rarely flowers except following fire, it can be recognized in sterile
condition by its forming clonal patches with evenly spaced, upright, blue-green tufts, each tuft a flattened stem with 5-10
ascending-erect, rather stiff, usually conduplicate leaves, the summit of each sheath with a pronounced cartilaginous thickening,
easily felt by running the flattened stem from base to apex between thumb and forefinger. [= C, F, FNA, G, HC, K; =
Sporobolus torreyanus (J.A. Schultes) Nash – S]
Muhlenbergia asperifolia (Nees & Meyen ex Trinius) Parodi, Alkali Muhly, Scratchgrass. Alkaline soils, wetlands, lawns.
Reported east and south to MD, PA, and OH (Kartesz 1999). [= C, F, FNA, G, HC, K] {not keyed at this time}