Muhlenbergia porteri Scribn.

bush muhly

black grama

hoe grass

mesquite grass

Cover value of bush muhly for wildlife species in Utah is rated as follows [12]: Small mammals Good Small nongame birds Fair Upland game birds Poor Waterfowl Poor

Bush muhly is a drought-resistant, native perennial bunchgrass. Plants reach up to 3 feet (1 m) in height and are often highly branched [22,44,30].

Bush muhly occurs from the southern part of the Great Basin and Intermountain region south to California, Texas and Mexico [44].

More info for the term: seed

A nonrhizomatous species, bush muhly regenerates following fire from soil-stored seed [34].

More info for the term: shrubs

When ungrazed, bush muhly's dense grow may contribute to fire spread. It may be most susceptible to fire damage when growing beneath shrubs because of increased fuels and higher temperatures as shrubs burn.

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More info for the term: hemicryptophyte

Hemicryptophyte

More info for the terms: grassland, shrubs

Generally, bush muhly grows on low elevation semidesert grassland ranges in good condition, as well as in deserts. It occurs on mostly rocky or sandy sites on lower plains, dry mesas, canyons, foothills, and open hillsides from 760 to 4,300 feet (230-1300 m). In Colorado it ranges up to 6,500 feet (1900 m) [12]. Throughout much of its range bush muhly is often found growing under the protection of shrubs, such as mesquite and creosotebush, more than in open areas [2,6,10,16,22,27,30,32,43].

Growth of bush muhly on various soil textures in Utah is rated as follows [12]: Gravel Poor Sand Good Sandy loam Good Loam Good Clay loam Good Clay Fair Dense clay Poor

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

68 Mesquite
242 Mesquite

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

More info for the term: shrub

FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES40 Desert grassland

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the term: shrub

KO27 Mesquite bosques
K039 Blackbrush
K040 Saltbush-greasewood
K041 Creosotebush
KO42 Creosotebush-bursage
KO43 Palverde-cactus shrub
K057 Galleta-three-awn shrubsteppe

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This species is known to occur in association with the following Rangeland Cover Types (as classified by the Society for Range Management, SRM):

211 Creosotebush scrub
212 Blackbrush
501 Saltbush-greasewood
503 Arizona chaparral
506 Creosotebush-bursage
507 Palo verde-cactus
508 Creosotebush-tarbush

More info for the term: competition

Fire probably top-kills bush muhly. Burning causes at least short-term decline of bush muhly. Recovery time is thought to vary considerably [13,45] and is probably dependent on postfire weather and competition [4].

Bush muhly is readily eaten by livestock throughout the year when available; however, it is usually not abundant enough to provide much forage. It is grazed heavily in winter when other species become scarce [43]. Because of its branching habit, it is extremely susceptible to heavy grazing [41,43]. Bush muhly is damaged when continuously grazed to a stubble height of less than 4 inches (10 cm) [22].

More info for the terms: association, shrub, tree, woodland

Bush muhly occurs in desert grasslands, desert shrub, within and above
interior chaparral, and as an understory component of the Madrean evergreen
woodland in central Arizona. It occurs mainly along drainages in the Great Basin [3].



Bush muhly is commonly found in association with velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina), creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) and Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia).
Common grass associates of bush muhly include bristlegrass (Seraria leucopila),
plains bristlegrass (S. macrostachya), plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia),
cane beardgrass (Bothriochloa barbinodis), green sprangletop
(Leptochloa dubia), Arizona cottontop (Digitaria californica), and
Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana) [4].

More info for the term: graminoid

Graminoid

More info for the terms: density, shrubs

Grazing: Bush muhly can be very susceptible to heavy winter grazing when it is
green and other plants are scarce [43]. In southern Arizona there was a marked increase
in bush muhly after 4 years of protection from cattle and domestic goat grazing [7].
When growing beneath shrubs, the shrubs may provide some protection from large
herbivores [43].



Martin and Morton [28] report that on the Santa Rita grazing unit near Tucson, Arizona,
bush muhly density increased more under yearlong grazing than rotation grazing. The
yearlong units received higher rainfall than the rotation units.



Other: Bush muhly increased in size when tebuthiuron was used to
kill creosotebush, but bush muhly density remained the same [15,32].
Increased growth of bush muhly was not observed when land imprinting and 2-way railing
were used because these mechanical methods did not kill the shrubs.
Disking killed most of the bush muhly plants [32].



In areas where creosotebush is less than 3 feet (1 m) in stature, bush
muhly appears to affect the creosotebush detrimentally and in some instances
may be responsible for its death by competing for moisture, nutrients, and
sunlight [43].

More info for the term: fresh

 

Bush muhly is rated good in energy value and poor in protein value [12]. Nutritional value (%) for fresh, mature bush muhly is as follows [33]:

Ash 6.6
Crude Fiber 37.3
Ether extract 2.1
N-free extract 46.8
Protein (N ? 6.25) 7.2
Calcium 0.39
Phosphorus 0.10

AZ CA CO NV NM OK TX UT

MEXICO

Bush muhly ranges from average to highly palatability
to all classes of livestock, depending on season and precipitation [8,43].
With sufficient moisture, bush muhly may remain green throughout the year
and is especially palatable in the winter and prior to summer rains when
other grasses are dry [22,40,41].


The palatability of bush muhly for livestock and wildlife species
in Utah is rated as follows [12]: Cattle Good
Domestic sheep Fair
Horses Good
Pronghorn Fair
Elk Poor
Mule deer Poor
Small mammals Fair
Small nongame birds Fair
Upland game birds Poor
Waterfowl Poor

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More info for the terms: phenology, root crown

Bush muhly begins growth from late winter to early spring and flowers from early spring to early summer [22,25,27]. Given sufficient moisture, bush muhly does not back to the root crown in winter, and new growth starts from near the base of the previous year's stems [22,30]. Phenology of bush muhly in the northern Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico was [25]:

new growth     Feb.-April
flowers           April-May
fruits mature   mid-Sept.

More info for the terms: density, grassland, root crown, seed

Information on regeneration of bush muhly after fire is lacking in the literature. Bush muhly probably establishes after fire by sprouting from the root crown and from soil-stored seed. Response to a single fire event may be favorable. Bush muhly's loosely arranged culms probably burn cooler and transfer less heat to the root crown compared to culms of more compact bunchgrasses. However, native bunchgrasses including bush muhly decline under repeated desert grassland fires enhanced by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and red brome (B. rubens) [5].

Bushy muhly has shown poor establishment after fire in 2 studies, 1 of which involved a repeat burn. Near Tucson, Arizona, a late spring fire was conducted in 1992 to restore desert grassland invaded by Lehmann lovegrass. Seven native grasses including bush muhly were direct seeded after the fire. On 1 plot, sown in June 1992, bush muhly seedling density was 2.2 plants/m2 in October 1992. Bush muhly failed to establish on a plot sown in August 1992. By 1993, bush muhly was the only direct-seeded grass that was absent from all plots. In June 1994, an arson-ignited fire burned the study plots. The plots were not reseeded after the arson fire but grasses established from soil-stored seed. Seedling density of bush muhly in October 1994 was 0.6 plant/m2, the lowest of the 8 grass species present [4].

In another study near Tucson, bush muhly density 2 years after a management-ignited spring fire was 0.09 plant/m2 on unburned plots compared to no plants on burned plots. The author stated that there were too few bush muhly plants on either treatment to draw definite conclusions [19].

More info for the terms: fire regime, graminoid, ground residual colonizer, tussock

Tussock graminoid
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)

FIRE REGIMES:

Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the terms: cactus, seed

Bush muhly regenerates by seed. Bush muhly seeds composed about 33% of the seedbank near Globe, Arizona [34]. Milton and others [31] found that that bush muhly made up the largest portion of construction material in cactus wren nests, and that the nests contained viable seeds. They suggested that the cactus wren is an important diperser of bush muhly seeds, capable of spreading them as far as 213 feet (65 m).

Bush muhly seedlings, shoots, and roots are all adversely affected by a high temperature regime. In a growth chamber study, Sosebee and Herbel [37] obtained an optimum germination rate of 84% under a temperature range of 68 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (20-35 oC) with alternating light and dark periods. Seedling survivorship after 21 days was 94% with maximum soil temperatures of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 oC) and 5% with a maximum soil temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit(53 oC)). Ashby and Hellmers [1] concluded that bush muhly germinated best at 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 oC).

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

3 Southern Pacific Border
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau

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More info for the terms: climax, grassland, shrubs

 

Bush muhly is considered a climax species [16]. Bush muhly was dominant throughout much of the desert grassland of New Mexico, but is now secondary to fluffgrass (Erioneuron pulchellum), burrograss (Aplopappus tenuisectus), and threeawns (Aristida spp.) [43]. Bush muhly originally existed in extensive stands, but now is generally found growing under the protection of shrubs [10,43]. Bush muhly may decrease greatly on heavily grazed rangeland, but may be a substantial component of mesa rangelands in the process of recovery. Bush muhly is shade tolerant, and survives beneath mesquite canopies [20].

 

Muhlenbergia porteri F. Lanson-Shcribner ex W. Beal [21]

The scientific name of bush muhly is Muhlenbergia porteri Scribn. ex Beal. (Poaceae) [11,18,23,24,43,44,].

Compared with other grasses, bush muhly was rated with regard to its potential in rehabilitation work as follows [12]: Potential biomass production Medium Erosion control potential Medium Establishing requirements Medium Short-term revegetation potential Low Long-term revegetation potential Medium

Muhlenbergia porteri Scribn.; Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 259 1896.
Muhlenbergia lexana Thurb.; Porter & Coult. Svn. Fl. Colo. 144. 1874. (Basis of M. Porteri
Scribn.) Not M. texana Buck!. 1863. Podosaemitm Porteri Bush. Am. Midi. Nat. 7: 36. 1921. (Based on Muhlenbergia Porteri Scribn.)
Perennial ; culms loosely cespitose from a knotty woody or persistent base, numerous, wiry, fragile, widely spreading or ascending through bushes, scaberulous, mostly branching from all the numerous nodes, 30-100 cm. tall or more; sheaths smooth, spreading away from the branches, the prophyllum conspicuous; ligule 1-2 mm. long; blades flat, early deciduous from the sheath, 2-5 cm. long, about 1 mm. wide; panicles open, 5-10 cm. long, about as wide, the slender branches and branchlets brittle, widely spreading, bearing rather few long-pediceled spikelets; glumes narrow, acuminate, slightly unequal, glabrous except the slightly scabrous keel, the second longer, about 3 mm. long; lemma purple, acuminate, sparsely pubescent, 3-4 mm. long, with a delicate awn 5-8 mm. long.
Type locality: Texas.
Distribution: Dry mesas and hills, canyons, and rocky deserts, western Texas to Colorado, Nevada, and southern California, and southward to Durango, Mexico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Infloresc ence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Muhlenbergia porteri is a species of grass known by the common names bush muhly and Porter's muhly.

Muhlenbergia porteri là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Hòa thảo. Loài này được Scribn. ex Beal mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1887.