Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

WILD TIMOTHY

(Muhlenbergia glomerata (Willd.) Trin.)


Figure 33

GRASS FAMILY (Gramineae or Poaceae)

IND. STATUS: FACW+

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A perennial grass 50-120 cm. high. Stems usually do not branch above the base. Ligules are 0.25-0.5 mm. long. The inflorescence is a terminal, stout, condensed head of compact spikelets. The glumes are longer than the lemmas. Lemmas taper to a slender point.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Wild timothy is a characteristic grass of calcareous fens and is occasionally found growing on calcareous soils of wet to wet-mesic prairies and other inland fresh meadows supported by groundwater seepages.

SOURCE: Fassett (1951); Gleason and Cronquist (1991); and Swink and Wilhelm (1994). Illustration is from Hitchcock (1950).

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