Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry CommentsMarsh Muhly is
a rather ordinary-looking grass that resembles Muhlenbergia
frondosa (Common Satin Grass) and several other species in this
genus. It can be distinguished from them primarily by its awned
glumes, which are 6-8 mm. long. Other Muhlenbergia spp. in
Illinois have glumes that lack awns, although their lemmas are
sometimes awned. An exception is Muhlenbergia glomerata (Wild
Timothy), which has awned glumes of the same length as Marsh
Muhly; these two species are very difficult to distinguish.
However, the anthers of Marsh Muhly are much smaller (about 0.5
mm. in length) than those of Wild Timothy (about 1.01.5 mm. in
length), while the papery ligules of Marsh Muhly are longer
(about 1.0 mm. in length) than those of Wild Timothy (about 0.5
mm. in length or less). There have been some attempts to make
generalizations about the differing habitats that these two
species are supposed to prefer, but this is rather risky because
fidelity to any particular ha