Muhlenbergia mexicana

Muhlenbergia mexicana or Mexican muhly is a species of grass. It is native to North America, including most of the United States and southern Canada.^[1]

Muhlenbergia mexicana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Chloridoideae
Genus:	Muhlenbergia
Species:	M. mexicana
Binomial name
Muhlenbergia mexicana (L.) Trin.

Taxonomy

Muhlenbergia mexicana was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1767 as Agrostis mexicana.^[2] The species name mexicana is a misnomer as the species is not found in Mexico; Linnaeus knew the species only from specimens grown in gardens and later authors have suggested that he was mistaken about the origin of the seeds these specimens were grown from.^[2] In 1824 the species was transferred to the genus Muhlenbergia by botanist Carl Bernhard von Trinius.^[2]

Habitat

Muhlenbergia mexicana is known mainly from moist and wet habitat, such as meadows, wetlands, seeps, and drainage ditches.

Description

Muhlenbergia mexicana is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing 30 to 70 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is a narrow series of short, appressed to upright branches lined densely in small, pointed spikelets each a few millimeters long.