Index / Search / Muhlenbergia porteri

§1 Plant

Muhlenbergia porteri Scribn. ex Beal

vernacular bush muhly — species · Poaceae


USDA
MUPO2
GBIF
7603719
Rank
species
bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri)
Platephotograph · Jim MorefieldCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Muhlenbergia
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 55 counties across 5 states/territories
Legend Native · 55 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
Medium
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
High
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
None
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
12 °F minimum
Frost-free days
220 min.
Precipitation
5–12 in/yr
pH range
6.2–8
Root depth
12 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
2.8 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
2,424,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 55 counties across 5 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/MUPO2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/7603719 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T10:50:45Z