Plains Muhly
Muhlenbergia cuspidata
Native to Arkansas. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Height
- About 1.4 feet
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Bloom
- Late spring
Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves
Recorded in 2 Arkansas counties.
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AR
Genus host records with ranges including AR · Muhlenbergia
- Anicla infectaGreen Cutworm Moth
- Cercyonis pegalaCommon Wood Nymph
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Trichordestra legitimaStriped Garden Caterpillar Moth
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Muhlenbergia
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
What its natural habitat tells you
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Late spring” · USDA PLANTS via EOL TraitBank · Nationwide approximate species characteristics; tolerance categories do not specify sun hours or moisture requirements
- Height · “About 1.4 feet” · USDA PLANTS via EOL TraitBank · Nationwide approximate species characteristics; tolerance categories do not specify sun hours or moisture requirements
Conservation status
| Arkansas rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| AR status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas (2013)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- Arkansas occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications