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darnel lovegrass

weeping love grass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, forming innovations at the basal nodes, without glands.
Culms

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

(45)60-150 cm, erect, glabrous or glandular.

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.

with scattered hairs, hairs to 9 mm;

ligules 0.6-1.3 mm;

blades 12-50(65) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, adaxial surfaces with scattered hairs basally, hairs to 7 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.

16-35(40) cm long, (4)8-24 cm wide, ovate to oblong, open;

primary branches 3-14 cm, diverging 10-80° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or not;

pedicels 0.5-5 mm, appressed, flexible.

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.

4-8.2(10) mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, plumbeous to yellowish, with 3-10 florets;

disarticulation irregular to acropetal, proximal rachilla segments 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, hyaline;

lower glumes 1.2-2.6 mm;

upper glumes 2-3 mm;

lemmas 1.8-3 mm, ovate, membranous, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.8-3 mm, hyaline to membranous, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.6-1.2 mm, reddish-brown.

Caryopses

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

1-1.7 mm, ellipsoid to obovoid, dorsally compressed, adaxial surfaces with a shallow, broad groove or ungrooved, smooth, mostly translucent, light brown, bases often greenish.

Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= 40, 50.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis curvula

Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WV; HI; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

Eragrostis curvula is native to southern Africa. It is often used for reclamation because it provides good ground cover but, once introduced, it easily escapes. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, at the margins of woods, along roadsides, and in waste ground, at 20-2400 m, usually in pine-oak woodlands, and yellow pine and mixed hardwood forests.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 103. FNA vol. 25, p. 76.
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. curtipedicellata, 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
Synonyms E. curvula var. conferta, E. chloromelas
Name authority Nees (Schrad.) Nees
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