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• Muhlenbergia alopecuroides

Muhlenbergia alopecuroides — bristly wolfstail

Facts

Bristly wolfstail is an exotic grass that has been collected from the dump sites of nineteenth-century wool carding factories in Maine. This perennial grass is native to California, where it is considered rare. Its droopy, cylindrical inflorescences resemble "foxtails" more that "wolf's tails."

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  1.5–2 mm

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has an awn

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is thin and flexible

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  • 1
  • 3

  Inflorescence arrangement

  the spikelets are uniform

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  • the inflorescence axis is arched or curved outward
  • the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branches

  • the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
  • there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence crowding

  the panicle is somewhat to very congested (crowded), and the branches may not be clearly seen without close inspection

  Inflorescence length

  40–100 mm

  Inflorescence type (general)

  • the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches
  • the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched, and the branches do NOT both grow from the same side of the plant AND look like spikes

  Lemma awn base

  the awn is attached right at the tip of the lemma

  Lemma awn length

  1.5–3 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has one awn on it

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is V-shaped if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  One or more florets

  there is one floret per spikelet

  Palea relative length

  palea is one half to fully as long as lemma

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  3–4 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

  Upper glume shape

  the upper glume is widest at or below the middle

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf blade width

  1–2 mm

  Leaf ligule length

  2–12 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Maine

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae