deergrass
Muhlenbergia rigens
Family 2
Poaceae
Description 3
Deergrass is a perennial bunchgrass obtaining heights of 5 feet when in bloom. It is part of the largest genus of warm season grasses in North America. The bunchgrass is found in dense, large clumps, but can occur as a continuous cover, in areas that are subjected to light, frequent ground fires. The culms are slender, narrow spike-like panicles, 9 to 12 dm. in length and less than 1.2 cm. wide. The numerous, small spikelets each have one awnless floret, with a 3-nerved lemma. The ligules are firm and truncate, 2-3 mm long. The leaves are 1.5 to 6 mm wide. The seeds are small, requiring about 2.5 million to make one pound. The dense, basal foliage is tufted and these large tufts, up to six feet across, are a distinguishing feature of the grass, along with the whip-like flower stalks.
Community 2
Valley Grassland, Chaparral, Yellow Pine Forest, wetland-riparian
Flowering 2
May-Jun
Ethnobotany 2
Cahuilla Fiber (Basketry) Bean, Lowell John and Katherine Siva Saubel 1972 Temalpakh (From the Earth); Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants. Banning, CA. Malki Museum Press (p. 89)
Diegueno Fiber (Basketry) Seed stems used as the foundation material for coiled baskets.
Hedges, Ken 1986 Santa Ysabel Ethnobotany. San Diego Museum of Man Ethnic Technology Notes, No. 20 (p. 25)
Kawaiisu Other (Tools, basketry)Stems used in pierced ears to keep the hole from growing together.
Zigmond, Maurice L. 1981 Kawaiisu Ethnobotany. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press (p. 42)
Luiseno Other (Baskets, hats) Sparkman, Philip S. 1908 The Culture of the Luiseno Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(4):187-234 (p. 204)
Garden Location 2
N
Associated species 2
Native bumblebees nest under the tussocks
Sources and Credits
- (c) gillian360, all rights reserved, uploaded by gillian360
- (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
- Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/1388410
More Info
- iNat taxon page
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- BOLD Systems BIN search
- Calflora
- CalPhotos
- eFloras.org
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- Jepson eFlora
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- OregonFlora.org
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- USDA PLANTS database
- World Flora Online
