Plants annual; slender. Culms 10-35 cm, erect; internodes strigulose. Sheaths shorter or longer than the internodes, strigulose; ligules 0.9-2.5 mm, hyaline, acute to obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate; blades 1-6(8) cm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, flat or involute, scabrous and sparsely strigulose on both surfaces. Panicles 9-21 cm long, 2-7 cm wide; primary branches 12-60 mm, occasionally capillary, narrowly ascending or diverging up to 70° from the rachises; pedicels 2-7 mm, usually longer than the florets, straight to somewhat curved, rarely bent as much as 90°; disarticulation above the glumes. Spikelets 1.3-2 mm. Glumes sparsely strigulose, particularly on the margins, 1-veined, acute to acuminate; lower glumes 0.8-1.2 mm; upper glumes 0.9-1.5 mm, bases slightly wider than the lower glumes; lemmas 1.3-2 mm, lanceolate,purplish to brown, shortly appressed-pubescent on the lower 1/2 of the midveins and margins, apices acute to acuminate, awned, awns 0.1-1(2) mm; paleas 1.3-2 mm, oblong-elliptic, minutely appressed-pubescent on the lower 1/2, apices acute; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm, purplish. Caryopses 0.8-1 mm, fusiform, brownish. 2n = 40.

Muhlenbergia texana grows on open slopes, in sandy, gravelly drainages, and on rock outcrops, at elevations of 1200-2750 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into northwestern Mexico.

Common Name: Texas muhly

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Graminoid

General: Slender annual with erect stems 10-35 cm tall, strigulose internodes, sheaths strigulose.

Vegetative: Blades 1-6 cm long, 0.5-2 mm wide, flat or involute, scabrous and sparsely strigulose on both surfaces, ligule 1-2.5 mm, hyaline, acute to obtuse, irregularly toothed to lacerate.

Inflorescence: Panicles 9-21 cm long, 2-7 cm wide, primary branches 12-60 mm, occasionally capillary, narrowly ascending or diverging up to 70 degrees from the rachises, on pedicels 2-7 mm, usually longer than the florets, straight to somewhat curved, rarely bent, disarticulation above the glumes with spikelets 1-2 mm; glumes equal, sparsely strigulose, particularly on margins, 1-veined, acute to acuminate; lemmas 1-2 mm, lanceolate, purplish to brown, shortly appressed-pubescent on the lower half of the midveins and margins, apices acute to acuminate, awns less than 1 mm.

Ecology: Found on open sites, often in sandy to gravelly drainages and on rock outcrops from 4,000-9,000 ft (1219-2743 m); flowers August-October.

Notes: A similar species, M. eludens has not been documented at regional parks, but be on the look out. It grows in similar habitat, but has mostly glabrous internodes, keeled sheaths, narrowly open pyramidal panicles 14-24 cm long and 3-7 cm wide.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Muhlenbergia is named for Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815) a clergyman and botanist from Pennsylvania; texana means of or from Texas.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010