Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis chaetophylla

(synonym of Eragrostis setifolia)

darnel lovegrass

neverfail lovegrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations and thick-ened or knotty plant bases; plant bases with woolly hairs, hairs coarse, to 2 cm.
Culms

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

12-60 cm, erect, glabrous or hairy near the base, often shiny below the nodes.
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.

glabrous, summits shortly pilose, hairs to 0.5 mm;

ligules 0.3-0.5 mm, ciliate;

blades 3-11 cm long, 0.7-2 mm wide, involute or flat, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.
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.

6-11 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, narrowly ovate, loosely contracted;

primary branches 1-3 cm, compact, appressed or diverging to 30° from the rachises, sometimes naked near the base;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.2-3 mm, diverging, scabridulous.
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.

3-6(15) mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide, linear lanceolate, stramineous, with 9-30 florets;

disarticulation irregular or basipetal, 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.

subequal, 1-1.3 mm, ovate, membranous, apices obtuse to acute;

lemmas 1.4-1.6 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous, lateral veins conspicuous, green, sometimes obscure towards the apices, apices obtuse;

paleas 1.4-1.6 mm, hyaline, apices truncate, ciliolate;

anthers 3, 0.5-0.8 mm, yellowish.
Caryopses

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

0.4-0.5 mm, oblong-ellipsoid, strongly dorsally compressed, usually with a shallow dorsal groove, smooth to finely striate, mostly light brown, bases often greenish.
Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= unknown.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis chaetophylla
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
[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 setifolia is an Australian species that was collected around the Santee Wool Combing Mill, Jamestown, Berkeley County, South Carolina, in 1958. It is not known to have spread from that location. There is no illustration of the species because it was a late addition to the treatment. For digital images, see http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 103. FNA vol. 25, p. 78.
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. plana, E. polytricha, E. prolifera, E. refracta, E. reptans, E. scaligera, E. secundiflora, E. sessilispica, 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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