Muhlenbergia racemosa

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The scientific name of green muhly is Muhlenbergia racemosa (Michx.) B.S.P. (Poaceae). Some authors have indicated that green muhly is not readily separable from spiked muhly (M. glomerata) and suggest that it is sufficient to lump them. Hitchcock and others provide a key to separate them morphologically. Welsh and others suggest that characteristic differences between these species are not consistent in specimens from Utah or the US National Herbarium. However, cytological, morphological, and ecological differences exist between these 2 species, so they are treated separately in the Fire Effects Information System. For information from the literature pertaining to spiked muhly, see the FEIS review. Because some authors cited in these reviews may have lumped or misidentified these 2 species, some information in this review may pertain to spiked muhly and vice versa. According to Gleason and Cronquist, green muhly hybridizes with spiked muhly; however the literature on spiked muhly does not support this assertion. No other mention of hybridization in green muhly was found in the literature. Green muhly is most common in the north-central United States, but can be found at scattered locations throughout most of the western United States and into northern Mexico. It is abundant in the prairie and plains regions and less commun in the mountain states at intermediate elevations. Its occurrence east of Illinois also seems to be scattered and rare it is thought that green muhly spread to these locations from farther west. One author suggests that green muhly was introduced along railways eastward from Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois, and another suggests that specimens from Maine and Washington, DC, "were doubtless from cultivated plants". Green muhly also seems to be rare or uncommon in the Pacific Northwest.

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Reference Code: U11ZOU01IDUS

Full Citation: Zouhar, K. 2011. Muhlenbergia racemosa. In Fire Effects Information System [Online]. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ (accessed 2014 March 26).

Location: PLANT EF: MUHLENBERGIA RACEMOSA