Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis plana

darnel lovegrass

south African lovegrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes.
Culms

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

65-100 cm, erect, glabrous.
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.

flattened, smooth, shiny, glabrous or puberulent;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades 15-50(70) cm long, 2-4 mm wide, folded, margins involute or revolute, abaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy, 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.

13-28 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, narrowly oblong to narrowly lanceolate, contracted to open;

primary branches 1-8 cm, appressed or diverging up to 30° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or hairy;

pedicels 1-7 mm, appressed, glabrous.
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.

6-14 mm long, 1.3-2.5 mm wide, linear-oblong, greenish to plumbeous, with 9-14 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas 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.

narrowly ovate to lanceolate, membranous to hyaline;

lower glumes 0.4-1.2 mm, scalelike;

upper glumes 1-1.5 mm;

lemmas 1.8-3 mm, ovate, membranous, strongly keeled, keels with minute punctate glands, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute to obtuse;

paleas 1.8-3 mm, hyaline to membranous, bases not projecting beyond the lemmas, apices obtuse to truncate;

anthers 3, 1.2-1.8 mm, reddish-purple.
Caryopses

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

1-1.6 mm, rectangular-prismatic to ovoid, laterally compressed, adaxial surfaces deeply grooved, smooth, opaque, reddish-brown.
Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= 20.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis plana
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
SC
[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 plana is native to southern Africa. It is known from two locations in the Flora region, both waste areas near sheep and cattle lots in Florence County, South Carolina.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 103. FNA vol. 25, p. 91.
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. pilosa, 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 Nees
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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