Scratchgrass

Muhlenbergia asperifolia (Nees & Mey.) Parodi, Revista Fac Agnm. Hucnos Aires 6: 117. 1928.
Vil/a asperifolia fMeyen. Rcise 1: 408, name only. 1834) Nees & Mev.; Trin. Mi'm. Acad. S(.-
P£-tersb. VI. 6': 95. 1840. Sporobolus asperifolius Nees, Nova Acta Acad. I.eop. -Carol. 19: Suppl. 141. 1843. (Based on
Vilfa asperifolia Nees & Mev.) Agroilis dislichophylla I< A. Phil.' El. Atac. 54. 1860. (Type from Chile, Parodi.) Not .1 dislidio-
phylla R. & S. 1817. Sporobolus sarmenlosa Griseb. Abh. Ges. Wiss. Gott. 24: 295. 1879. (Type from Argentina.) Sporobolus deserlicolus Phil. Anal. Mus. Nac. Chile Bot. 8: 82. 1891. (Type from Chile, fide
Parofli.) Sporobolus asperifolius var. major Vascy. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 64. 1892. (Type from Marfa.
Texas.) Sporoboliis dislkhophylhis Phil. Anal. ITiiiv. Chile 94: 7. 1896. (Based on Agroslis dislichophyllus
Phil.) Agroslis eremophilii Spcg. Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires 7: 190. 1902. (Based on ,4. dislichophylla
Phil.)
Perennial, pale or glaucous, with slender scaly rhizomes; culms branching at base, spreading, slender, compressed, glabrous, 10-40 cm. tall, the branches ascending or erect; sheaths compressed-keeled, usually overlapping, glabrous; ligule truncate, erose-toothed, about 0.5 mm. long; blades flat, crowded, scabrous, mostly 2-5 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide; panicles slender, diffuse, 5-15 cm. long, about as wide, the capillary scabrous branches finally widely spreading, the panicle at maturity breaking away, the axis glabrous or nearly so, the main branches scaberulous, the branches of the second and third order (pedicels) scabrous, rather stiff, the pedicels slightly enlarged below the spikelets, much longer than the spikelets; spikelets 1.5-2 mm. long, occasionally 2-flowered; glumes acute, glabrous, scabrous on the keel, sometimes minutely and sparsely pilose on the back, from half to nearly as long as the spikelet; lemma thin, broad, minutely mucronate from an obtuse apex; palea about as long and as broad as the lemma.
Type locality: Chili (Meyen).
Distribution: Damp or marshy, often alkaline soil, along irrigation ditches and banks of streams, Illinois and Alberta to British Columbia, and southward to Texas, California, and Mexico; southern South America.