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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
ABBREVIATION :
MUHRAC
SYNONYMS :
Muhlenbergia glomerata (Willd.) Trin.
SCS PLANT CODE :
MURA
MUGL3
MUGLC
COMMON NAMES :
green muhly
marsh muhly
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name of green muhly is Muhlenbergia
racemosa (Michx.) B.S.P. [6,14].
Although some authorities recognize M. racemosa and M. glomerata
(Willd.) Trin. as separate species, the diagnostic characters between
the two entities are not consistently correlated. This write-up will
follow those authorities who put M. glomerata into synonomy with M.
racemosa [6,14].
LIFE FORM :
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Kathy Ahlenslager, May 1988
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Ahlenslager, Kathleen E. 1988. Muhlenbergia racemosa. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Green muhly is distributed from British Columbia southward on the east
side of the Cascades to northeastern Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and
northern Mexico, east to Newfoundland and south to Oklahoma, Tennessee,
and Maryland [4,7].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES34 Chaparral - mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
STATES :
AK AZ CO HI ID IL IN IA KS ME
MI MN MO MT NE NV NM ND OH OK
OR SD TN TX UT VA WA WI WY AB
BC MB NF ON SK
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
ACAD BADL BICA BLCA CACH CHCU
CUVA AGFO DETO DINO GLAC GRCA
GRTE INDU ISRO MORU PIPE ROMO
SCBL SHEN THRO TICA WACA WICA
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce - fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa forest
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K018 Pine - Douglas-fir forest
K019 Arizona pine forest
K020 Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
K021 Southwestern spruce - fir forest
K023 Juniper - pinyon woodland
K037 Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K064 Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
K065 Grama - buffalograss
K066 Wheatgrass - needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
K070 Sandsage - bluestem prairie
K074 Bluestem prairie
K081 Oak savanna
K098 Northern floodplain forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Green muhly plants are scattered and of little importance to livestock
and wildlife [13].
PALATABILITY :
The palatability of green muhly is fair to good before maturity. When
plants are immature their palatability is fair for cattle and poor for
wildlife [11,12]. The degree of use shown by livestock and wildlife
species for green muhly has been rated as follows [2]:
CO ND UT
Cattle Fair Fair Good
Sheep Fair Fair Fair
Horses Fair Fair Good
Pronghron ---- ---- Poor
Elk ---- ---- Fair
Mule deer ---- ---- Fair
Small mammals ---- ---- Fair
Small nongame birds ---- ---- Fair
Upland game birds ---- ---- Poor
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Green muhly is rated fair in energy value and poor in protein value [2].
COVER VALUE :
In Utah, cover value of green muhly is poor for pronghorn and upland
game birds, and fair for elk, mule deer, small mammals, and small
nongame birds [2].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Compared to other grasses the potential of green muhly for
rehabilitation work in Utah is rated as follows [2]:
Potential biomass production Medium
Erosion control potential Medium
Establishing requirements Medium
Short-term revegetation potential Low
Long-term revegetation potential Low
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Green muhly is a warm-season, perennial grass with long scaly rhizomes.
Culms reach up to 3 feet (1 m) in height [4,5,6,14].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
Hemicryptophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Green muhly regenerates via rhizomes and seeds.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Green muhly grows on dry to moist sites, streambanks, irrigation
ditches, lake margins, and dry slopes from 4,100 to 10,400 feet
(1,200-3,000 m) [2,5,6,11,14]. Its growth on various soil textures was
rated as follows for three states [2]:
CO ND UT
Gravel Poor Poor Fair
Sand Fair Fair Fair
Sandy loam Good Good Good
Loam Good Good Good
Clay loam Good Good Good
Clay Poor Poor Poor
Dense clay Poor Poor Poor
Elevational ranges vary as follows [2]:
from 3,500 to 9,000 feet (1,100-2,700 m) in CO
6,600 to 7,100 feet (2,000-2,200 m) in MT
7,300 to 7,500 feet (2,200-2,300 m) in UT
4,700 to 7,000 feet (1,400-2,100 m) in WY
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Growth of green muhly starts in late spring with plants blooming from
July to October [4,11].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Green muhly probably surives fire by sprouting from the rhizomes.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
As a warm-season species, the period of green-up and highest
susceptibility to injury for green muhly is late spring and early
summer.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
NO-ENTRY
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Muhlenbergia racemosa | Green Muhly
REFERENCES :
1. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
[434]
2. Dittberner, Phillip L.; Olson, Michael R. 1983. The plant information
network (PIN) data base: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and
Wyoming. FWS/OBS-83/86. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service. 786 p. [806]
2. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
3. Great Plains Flora Association. 1986. Flora of the Great Plains.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. 1392 p. [1603]
4. Hitchcock, A. S. 1951. Manual of the grasses of the United States. Misc.
Publ. No. 200. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Agricultural Research Administration. 1051 p. [2nd edition revised by
Agnes Chase in two volumes. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.]. [1165]
5. Hitchcock, C. Leo; Cronquist, Arthur; Ownbey, Marion. 1969. Vascular
plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 1: Vascular cryptograms,
gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Seattle, WA: University of Washington
Press. 914 p. [1169]
6. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
7. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090]
8. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
9. Reed, Clyde F. 1952. Contributions toward a flora of Nevada. No. 41.
Chenopodiaceae of Nevada. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Conrtributions
toward a flora of Nevada. Vol.1 Pinaceae-Cupressaceae. Beltsville, MD.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 96 p.
[1948]
10. Stubbendieck, J.; Hatch, Stephan L.; Hirsch, Kathie J. 1986. North
American range plants. 3rd ed. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska
Press. 465 p. [2270]
11. Stubbendieck, J.; Nichols, James T.; Roberts, Kelly K. 1985. Nebraska
range and pasture grasses (including grass-like plants). E.C. 85-170.
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, Department of Agriculture,
Cooperative Extension Service. 75 p. [2269]
12. Uresk, Daniel W.; Paintner, Wayne W. 1985. Cattle diets in a ponderosa
pine forest in the northern Black Hills. Journal of Range Management.
38(5): 440-442. [2401]
13. Welsh, Stanley L.; Atwood, N. Duane; Goodrich, Sherel; Higgins, Larry
C., eds. 1987. A Utah flora. Great Basin Naturalist Memoir No. 9. Provo,
UT: Brigham Young University. 894 p. [2944]
14. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
15. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090]
16. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
Index
Related categories for Species: Muhlenbergia racemosa
| Green Muhly
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