WIRESTEM MUHLY, Muhlenbergia frondosa (Poir.) Fern. 1, lower part of plant; 2, upper portions of stems with panicles; 3, spikelet. Perennial, reproducing by seeds, rhizome growth, and rhizome fragments. Rhizomes short, creeping, very scaly. Stems erect or decumbent, 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) tall, smooth below joints, very tough, leafy, freely branched, rooting at lower nodes. Leaves flat, rough, pale green, scattered along the stem and dense near the tip, giving a bushy appearance. Panicles terminal and axilIary, barely protruding from the leaf sheaths. Seeds tightly enclosed in the lemma, which may or may not be awned. Found in fence rows and along roadsides; sometimes persists in cultivated fields. Growth starts in late spring.