Index / Search / Muhlenbergia pungens

§1 Plant

Muhlenbergia pungens Thurb.

vernacular sandhill muhly — species · Poaceae


USDA
MUPU2
GBIF
2703979
Rank
species
sandhill muhly (Muhlenbergia pungens)
Platephotograph · Jeff Stauffer 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

· 77 counties across 8 states/territories
Legend Native · 77 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

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

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-23 °F minimum
Frost-free days
120 min.
Precipitation
8–20 in/yr
pH range
5–7
Root depth
12 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

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

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Summer
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
747,000
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Field Collections Only
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 77 counties across 8 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 5 N
Colorado view state ↗ 14 N
Nebraska view state ↗ 27 N
New Mexico view state ↗ 14 N
South Dakota view state ↗ 1 N
Texas view state ↗ 4 N
Utah view state ↗ 7 N
Wyoming view state ↗ 5 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/MUPU2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/2703979 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T13:12:28Z