Ear Muhly

Muhlenbergia arenacea (Buckl.) Hitchc. Proc. Biol. Soc Wash. 41: 161. 1928.
Sporobolus arenaceus Buckl. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1862: 89. 1863.
Sporoboliis auriculalus Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 64. 1892. (Type from Pena. Texas, Ncalley.)
Perennial with extensively creeping rhizomes; culms cespitose from a cluster of vertical rhizomes, glabrous, erect or decumbent at base, 10-20 cm. tall ; sheaths crowded and overlapping at base, glabrous; ligule prominent, decurrent, 1-2 mm. long, the margins usually split away, forming an erect auricle at each side; blades flat, wavy, mostly 1-3 cm. long, about 1 mm. wide, involutely sharp-pointed, the scabrous margins and midnerve white and cartilaginous, scaberulous on the upper surface, glabrous beneath, strongly nerved on both surfaces; panicles diffuse, 7-12 cm. long, about as broad, the branches and pedicels capillary, spreading; spikelets about 2 mm. long, rarely 2-flowered; glumes about half as long as the spikelet, abruptly apiculate or subacute, glabrous; lemma glabrous, abruptly mucronate; palea about as large and as long as the lemma.
Type locality: Western Texas fWrighl 737).
Distribution: T.ow places in mesas. Texas to Arizona and Sonora.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or co nduplicate, Leaf blade with prominently raised or widened midvein, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.