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Mountain Muhly

Muhlenbergia montana

Mountain muhly is the high-elevation muhly of the Southwest and Rockies, forming fine dense tussocks in ponderosa pine openings, mountain grassland and volcanic gravel from about six thousand feet up toward timberline. Its panicles are open and delicate, held well above the foliage on thread-fine stems, and they catch light in a way that makes a stand glow at low sun. It is warm-season but adapted to a cold short summer, greening late and setting seed quickly, and its old leaf bases build a persistent crown that carries it through drought and hard frost. It responds well to fire, resprouting from that crown, and it is a common increaser on rangeland where heavier grasses have been grazed out. Its fine roots hold decomposed granite and volcanic cinder, which is why it turns up in high-elevation revegetation mixes. Give it altitude, gravel and cold; it fails in humid lowland heat.

Family

Poaceae

Type

grass

Lifespan

perennial

Height

1.5–1.5 ft

Spacing

1–1.5 ft apart

Light

part shade

Soil moisture

dry

Soil pH

neutral

Bloom

June, July

Bloom colors

yellow

Wildlife value

songbirds, larval host, mammals

Landscape uses

border, groundcover, container, naturalizing

Native states

AZ, CA, CO, MT, NM, TX, UT, WY