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