California Muhly

Muhlenbergia californica Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 53 1886.
Muhlenbergia glomerala var. brevi/olia Vasey, Bot. Gaz. 7: 92. 1882. (Basis of Muhlenbergia califomica Vasey.)
Muhlenbergia sylvatica var. californica Vasey, Bot. Gaz. 7: 93. 1882. (Type from San Bernardino Mountains. California, Parish 1076.)
Muhlenbergia Parishii Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 53. 1886. (Based on M. sylvatica var. californica Vasey.)
Muhlenbergia racemosa var. brerifolia Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 253. 1896. (Based on M. ginmerala var. brevifolia Vasey.)
Perennial, pale, leafy, the base more or less creeping and rhizomatous; culms usually several, ascending from the branching end of the rhizome, somewhat woody below, puberulent below the nodes, 30-60 cm. tall; sheaths scaberulous; ligule obtuse or truncate, ciliate, somewhat pilose, about 1 mm. long; blades flat, scabrous, 5-15 cm., usually less than 10 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide; panicles narrow, dense but more or less interrupted, 7-15 cm. long, the axis scabrous, the short branches appressed, the very short pedicels pubescent; spikelets 3-4 mm. long, the glumes slightly shorter, scaorous, acuminate, awn-tipped ; lemma scabrous, acuminate, awn-tipped, with sparse callus hairs about half as long as the lemma ; palea acuminate, as long as the body of the lemma.
Type i.ocai.ity: San Bernardino Mountains. California (Parish 1028).
Distribution: Stream borders and gullies, foothills and mountain slopes up to 2000 meters, confined to southern California.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems solitary, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or sc apes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, 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 blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, 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 bisexua l, 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 acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, 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 - caryo psis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Muhlenbergia californica is an uncommon species of grass known by the common name California muhly.