Muhlenbergia mexicana

Muhlenbergia mexicana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Genus: Muhlenbergia
Species:
M. mexicana
Binomial name
Muhlenbergia mexicana
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Muhlenbergia mexicana or Mexican muhly is a species of grass. It is native to North America, including most of the United States and southern Canada.[1]

Taxonomy

Muhlenbergia mexicana was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1767 as Agrostis mexicana.[2] The species name mexicana is a misnomer as the species is not found in Mexico; Linnaeus knew the species only from specimens grown in gardens and later authors have suggested that he was mistaken about the origin of the seeds these specimens were grown from.[2] In 1824 the species was transferred to the genus Muhlenbergia by botanist Carl Bernhard von Trinius.[2]

Habitat

Muhlenbergia mexicana is known mainly from moist and wet habitat, such as meadows, wetlands, seeps, and drainage ditches.

Description

Muhlenbergia mexicana is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing 30 to 70 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is a narrow series of short, appressed to upright branches lined densely in small, pointed spikelets each a few millimeters long.

References

  1. ^ Peterson, Paul M. (2003). "Muhlenbergia mexicana". Manual of Grasses for North America. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06.
  2. ^ a b c Pohl, Richard W. (October 1969). "Muhlenbergia, Subgenus Muhlenbergia (Gramineae) in North America". The American Midland Naturalist. 82 (2): 512–542.


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