Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Woodland muhly
Muhlenbergia sylvatica
Woodland muhly is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 463 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Woodland muhly at a glance
- Native in
- 463 counties, across 33 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Woodland muhly is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 463 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 463 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 1 county
- Arkansas 13 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 1 county
- Illinois 39 counties
- Indiana 24 counties
- Iowa 5 counties
- Kansas 16 counties
- Kentucky 31 counties
- Maine 8 counties
- Massachusetts 9 counties
- Michigan 9 counties
- Minnesota 8 counties
- Mississippi 5 counties
- Missouri 48 counties
- Nebraska 7 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 13 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Carolina 10 counties
- Ohio 18 counties
- Oklahoma 3 counties
- Pennsylvania 47 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Tennessee 26 counties
- Texas 1 county
- Vermont 10 counties
- Virginia 44 counties
- West Virginia 12 counties
- Wisconsin 7 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5.9 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- MUSY
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Muhlenbergia sylvatica (PLANTS symbol MUSY).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources