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darnel lovegrass

eragrostide poilue, India lovegrass, Indian love grass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants annual; tufted, without innovations.
Culms

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

8-45(70) cm, erect or geniculate, glabrous, occasionally with a few glandular depressions.

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.

mostly glabrous, occasionally glandular, apices hirsute, hairs to 3 mm;

ligules 0.1-0.3 mm, ciliate;

blades 2-15(20) cm long, 1-2.5(4) mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, occasionally with glandular pits along the midrib, adaxial surfaces scabridulous.

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.

4-20(28) cm long, 2-15(18) cm wide, ellipsoid to ovoid, diffuse;

primary branches 1-10 cm, diverging 10-80°(110°) from the rachises, capillary, whorled on the lowest 2 nodes, rarely glandular;

pulvini glabrous or hairy;

pedicels 1-10 mm, flexible, appressed or divergent.

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.

(2)3.5-6(10) mm long, 0.6-1.4 mm wide, linear-oblong to narrowly ovate, plumbeous, with (3)5-17 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas tardily deciduous, rachillas persisting longer than the paleas.

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.

narrowly ovate to lanceolate, hyaline;

lower glumes 0.3-0.6(0.8) mm;

upper glumes 0.7-1.2(1.4) mm;

lemmas 1.2-1.8(2) mm, ovate-lanceolate, membranous to hyaline, grayish-green proximally, reddish-purple distally, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1-1.6 mm, membranous to hyaline, keels scabridulous to scabrous, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.3 mm, purplish.

Caryopses

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

0.5-1 mm, obovoid to prism-shaped, adaxial surfaces flat, smooth to faintly striate, light brown.

Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= 40.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis pilosa

Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; PR; BC; NS; ON; QC; Virgin Islands
[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 pilosa is native to Eurasia but has become naturalized in many parts of the world. In the Flora region, it grows in forest margins and disturbed sites such as roadsides, railroad embankments, gardens, and cultivated fields, at 0-2500 m.

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

Key
1. Plants with numerous glandular pits scattered over the whole plant, especially on the midribs of the sheaths and blades; lemmas 1.8-2 mm long
var. perplexa
1. Plants with a few glandular pits scattered on the culms or without any glandular pits; lemmas 1.2-1.8 mm long
var. pilosa
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 103. FNA vol. 25, p. 81.
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. 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
E. pilosa var. perplexa, E. pilosa var. pilosa
Synonyms E. peregrina, E. perplexa, E. multicaulis
Name authority Nees (L.) P. Beauv.
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