Portrait of supreme grass expert, Gotthilf Muhlenberg
Living in the American West, you soon realize that a large number of native American grass species include the scientific name Muhlenbergia and the common name Muhly. So who was that Muhlenberg grass guy, anyway?
Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg was a German-American pastor turned botanist who hailed from Pennsylvania. It's said that, while hiding from the British in the Pennsylvania countryside during the Revolutionary War, he became interested in the region's native plants. (Well, of course he did! What else are you going to do with yourself when you're flat on your stomach in the midst of grasses for hours on end, other than get ticks?)
Muhlenberg was one of the first European-Americans to catalogue native Pennsylvania plants, but he was especially known for his work on grasses. This remarkable man identified hundreds of native plants for science and researched the medical and economic uses of plants. In time he became a member of the American Philosophical Society, earning both an MA from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from Princeton in the days when having a doctorate on either side of the Atlantic was rare indeed.
Mountain Muhly (Muhlenbergia montana)
Muhly grasses are beautiful and drought tolerant. They love sun and well-drained soil. Because our native plants have been conditioned over millennia to drop their seeds in fall in preparation for the cold stratification they need to germinate in spring, this is a great time to plant. Right now we're seeding bare areas on our property with native grasses. Along with Mountain Muhly (Muhlenbergia montana), we've also planted Indian Ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides 'Rimrock'); Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha); a mix of montane zone erosion-control grasses (Slender wheatgrass, Western wheatgrass and Mountain Brome); and that reliable old standby, Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis).
If you're interested in native plant seed for the western American region, I highly recommend Western Native Seed in Coaldale, Colorado USA. No, I don't get anything from them for the plug--I just like their products and their customer service. Live on, Muhly grasses!
Photo of Gotthilf Muhlenberg courtesy of Wikipedia and currently in the public domain. Photo of Mountain Muhly copyright-free, courtesy of Wikimedia via Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service.
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