''Muhlenbergia orophila'' is a

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

species native to

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and to Mexico as far north as the Distrito Federal. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected from an alpine meadow at an elevation of approximately 3750 m (12,500 feet) near the Summit of Sierra de las Cuchumantanes, a remote mountainous area in el Departamento de Huehuetenango in the western part of Guatemala. ''Muhlenbergia orophila'' is a perennial herb growing in clumps. Stems can reach up to 25 cm (10 inches) tall. Sheaths are longer than the

internodes A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrien ...

. Leaves are long and narrow, up to 8 cm (3.2 inches) long and 1.5 mm (0.06 inches) wide. Spikelets are born in

paniculate A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

arrays up to 8 cm (3.2 inches) long partly enclosed in the subtending sheath, each spike dark purple and up to 3.5 mm (0.14 inches) long not including the

awn AWN may stand for: * Awn Access to Justice Network in Gaza Strip, Legal Aid Network operate in Gaza Strip, Palestine * Animation World Network, an online organization for animators * Avant Window Navigator, a dock-like bar that tracks open windows ...

that can be up to 1 mm (0.04 inches) long.Reeder, C. G. 1994. 87. Muhlenbergia Schreber. 6: 276–286. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez & A.O. Chater (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D. F.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15516667 orophila Flora of Guatemala Flora of Mexico