Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis curtipedicellata

darnel lovegrass

gummy lovegrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations and short, knotty rhizomes less than 4 mm thick.
Culms

30-110 cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.

20-65 cm, erect, viscid.
Sheaths

glabrous or pilose, hairs to 5 mm;

ligules 0.1-0.2 mm;

blades 8-22 mm long, (1)2-4(5) mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.

usually viscid, hairy at the apices and on the collars and margins, hairs to 6 mm;

ligules 0.1-0.3 mm;

blades 5-18 cm long, 2-4(5) mm wide, flat to involute, sometimes viscid, densely hairy behind the ligules, hairs to 8 mm.
Panicles

18-70 cm long, 3-25 cm wide, diffuse, ovate;

primary branches 4-20 cm, appressed or diverging 10-70° from the rachises, naked basally;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 2.4-11 mm, divergent.

18-35 cm long, 10-30 cm wide, broadly ovate, open;

primary branches 3-18 cm, diverging 10-90° from the rachises, stiff, viscid, naked basally;

pulvini hairy, hairs to 6 mm;

pedicels 0.2-1.2 mm, appressed.
Spikelets

1.3-2 mm long, 0.8-1.8 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, plumbeous, with 1-3 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, in the rachilla below the florets, glumes deciduous;

rachilla prolonged above the terminal floret.

3.5-6(7.6) mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, stramineous to reddish-purple, with 4-10 florets;

disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
Glumes

lanceolate to ovate, membranous;

lower glumes 0.8-1 mm;

upper glumes 1.1-1.4 mm;

lemmas 0.8-1.2 mm, ovate, membranous, plumbeous, keels and lateral veins inconspicuous, apices obtuse;

paleas 0.8-1.2 mm, membranous, bases not projecting beyond the lemmas, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish.

lanceolate, membranous;

lower glumes 0.9-1.8 mm;

upper glumes 1.2-2 mm, 1-3-veined;

lemmas 1.5-2.2 mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins evident, apices acute;

paleas 1.2-2 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.4 mm, purplish.
Caryopses

0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reticulate, reddish-brown.

0.6-0.8 mm, ellipsoid, terete in cross section, neither ridged nor grooved, faintly striate, reddish-brown.
Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= 40.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis curtipedicellata
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; CO; KS; LA; MO; NM; OK; TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis airoides is a South American species that, in the Flora region, is known only from roadsides and disturbed sites in Brazos County, Texas. It is an enigmatic species, often treated as Sporobolus brasiliensis (Raddi) Hack., which it resembles in its chromosome base number of x = 9 and caryopsis morphology, but its frequent possession of spikelets with more than 1 floret and its mode of spikelet disarticulation argue for its retention in Eragrostis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The range of Eragrostis curtipedicellata extends from southern Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri to northeastern Mexico. It grows near fields, along roadsides, and in the margins of woods, at 10-1525 m.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 103. FNA vol. 25, p. 89.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis
Sibling taxa
E. amabilis, E. atrovirens, E. bahiensis, E. barrelieri, E. capillaris, E. cilianensis, E. ciliaris, E. cumingii, E. curtipedicellata, E. curvula, E. cylindriflora, E. echinochloidea, E. elliottii, E. elongata, E. erosa, E. frankii, E. gangetica, E. hirsuta, E. hypnoides, E. intermedia, E. japonica, E. lehmanniana, E. lugens, E. lutescens, E. mexicana, E. minor, E. obtusiflora, E. palmeri, E. pectinacea, E. pilosa, E. plana, E. polytricha, E. prolifera, E. refracta, E. reptans, E. scaligera, E. secundiflora, E. sessilispica, E. setifolia, E. silveana, E. spectabilis, E. spicata, E. superba, E. swallenii, E. tef, E. trichodes, E. trichophora, E. unioloides
E. airoides, E. amabilis, E. atrovirens, E. bahiensis, E. barrelieri, E. capillaris, E. cilianensis, E. ciliaris, E. cumingii, E. curvula, E. cylindriflora, E. echinochloidea, E. elliottii, E. elongata, E. erosa, E. frankii, E. gangetica, E. hirsuta, E. hypnoides, E. intermedia, E. japonica, E. lehmanniana, E. lugens, E. lutescens, E. mexicana, E. minor, E. obtusiflora, E. palmeri, E. pectinacea, E. pilosa, E. plana, E. polytricha, E. prolifera, E. refracta, E. reptans, E. scaligera, E. secundiflora, E. sessilispica, E. setifolia, E. silveana, E. spectabilis, E. spicata, E. superba, E. swallenii, E. tef, E. trichodes, E. trichophora, E. unioloides
Name authority Nees Buckley
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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