Muhlenbergia frondosa (Poir.) Fern.
Wirestem Muhly.

Habit: 		Strongly rhizomatous perennials.
Culms: 		4-10 dm tall, glabrous, erect to sometimes decumbent, usually branched above.
Blades: 	Rolled in the bud, flat at maturity, glabrous to scabrous, 3-20 cm long, 2-7 mm wide.
Sheaths: 	Glabrous, rounded to slightly keeled.
Ligule: 	Membranous, erose-ciliolate, about 1 mm. long.
Inflorescence: 	Panicles numerous on main culm and branches, about 2-13 cm long, the
		lateral ones mostly partly included in leaf sheaths, relatively slender to congested.
Spikelets: 	1-flowered, exclusive of the awn 3-3.5 mm. long, narrowly lanceolate,
		rachilla disarticulating above the glumes.
Glumes: 	Strongly 1-nerved, acute, acuminate or awn tipped, variable in length
		even on the same plant, subequal, or the first one shorter, 1-4 mm long.
Lemmas: 	Pubescent toward the base, 3-nerved, exceeding, equaling, or slightly
		shorter than the glumes, the body 2.3 mm long, awnless or with an awn 0.1-13 mm long.
Palea: 		Thin, somewhat shorter than the lemma.
Fruit: 		Grains mostly 1.6-1.9 mm long.
Habitat: 	Wooded areas & woodland edge, often where disturbed, Jul-Nov, mostly Sep-Oct.
Kansas Range:	East third.
Remarks:	This species is closely resembles M. bushii in both habit and habitat.
Synonyms:	Muhlenbergia commutata (Scribn.) Bush