Gold-loving Muhly

Description

Muhlenbergia orophila, common name gold-loving muhly, is a grass species native to Guatemala and to Mexico as far north as the Distrito Federal. Type specimen 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. 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 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 that can be up to 1 mm (0.04 inches) long. Muhlenbergia is a genus of plants in the grass family.The genus is named in honor of the German-American amateur botanist Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Many of the species are known by the common name muhly. The greatest number are native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, but there are also native species in Canada, Central and South America and in Asia.