''Muhlenbergia porteri'' is a species of

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 ...

known by the common names bush muhly and Porter's muhly.

Distribution

The

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

is native to North America, where it can be found throughout the south-western United States, from the southern

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

and Four Corners region to the northern

Mexican Plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the US-Mexico border ...

and Baja California Peninsula. Specifically, Muhlenbergii porteri naturally occurs in ecoregions including the California deserts, the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

from far southern Colorado into western Texas, and the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower P ...

. It grows at elevations of , in rocky and shrubby

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s including shadscale scrub,

creosote bush scrub Creosote bush scrub is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) of sparsely but evenly spaced desert plants dominated by creosote bush (''Larrea tridentata'') and its associates. Its visual characterization is of widely spaced shrubs that ...

, desert grassland, and

Joshua Tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...

woodlands.

Description

''Muhlenbergia porteri'' is a perennial

producing wiry, knotted stems up to about 80 centimeters tall.Jepson Manual (TJM2): ''Muhlenbergia porteri''
/ref> The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is an open array of spreading, thread-thin branches bearing small, awned spikelets. The bloom period is May and June. The species was named for

Thomas Conrad Porter Thomas Conrad Porter (1822–1901) was an American botanist and theologian known as an expert on the flora of Pennsylvania. Biography Porter was born in Alexandria, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1822. He attended Harrisburg Academy before e ...

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Muhlenbergia porteri'' (Bush muhly, Porter's muhly)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Muhlenbergia porteri''USDA Plants Profile; ''Muhlenbergia porteri'' (bush muhly)Grass Manual Treatment of ''Muhlenbergia porteri''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Muhlenbergia porteri''
porteri Bunchgrasses of North America Grasses of Mexico Grasses of the United States Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Flora of the Great Basin Native grasses of California Native grasses of Oklahoma Native grasses of Texas Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Mojave Desert Flora of the Mexican Plateau Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Chloridoideae-stub