Longtongue Muhly
Muhlenbergia longiligula
Family: Poaceae
Tufted, evergreen, perennial grass with stout erect stems growing to about 4’ tall. Bloom spikes appear in July through October. Very upright-growing.
It may be confused with M. emersleyi, but differs from that species in its rounded basal leaf sheaths, glabrous lemmas, and panicle branches that are spikelet-bearing to the base. It is also similar to M. lindheimeri, but differs in its rounded basal sheaths.
Part sun best, regular water.
Native grasses are extremely important plants for wildlife: as nesting material for birds as well as native bees and other insects, as habitat for many organisms, and as food: adult insects eat the foliage, granivorous birds depend on many species for seeds, and most grass species are used as larval hosts for many species of butterflies and moths, especially skippers. Many bee species collect the pollen of many species of grasses. All can be used for desert tortoise enclosures. This is a fair to good forage plant.
Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
Muhlenbergia longiligula on iNaturalist
Grasses also play an important role in the ecology of soil, and because they are monocots, they can be planted close to other species of plants (the nature of the root systems of monocots renders them less imposing on neighboring plants). They hold soil down and help prevent erosion. Many species are pioneer plants that convert disturbed soils into hospitable places for other plants.
The genus, Muhlenbergia, is named for Gotthilf Heinrich (Henry) Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815) who was American born but returned to his ancestral Germany for schooling and later returned to America. He was an ordained Lutheran minister but devoted his free time to the study of the botany. The specific epitaph, longiligula, means having a long ligule. There are 180 species of Muhlenbergia with the greatest number native to the southwestern United States and Mexico; there are also native species in Canada, Central and South America and in Asia.
Found on rocky slopes and along ledges, often in canyons and on rock outcrops of volcanic or calcareous parent materials from 5,000-9,000 ft. mostly found in Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent Mexico.
Inflorescence detail, photo by Sue Carnahan, SEINET
A group of plants growing south of the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona, photo by Sue Carnahan, iNaturalist