Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis silveana

darnel lovegrass

Silveus' 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.

45-60 cm, erect, often glandular below the nodes, sometimes 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.

often viscid, sometimes sparsely pilose, hairy at the apices, hairs to 6 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;

blades 8-25 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous, sometimes viscid.
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.

20-35(42) cm long, 10-22 cm wide, broadly ovate, open, bases included in the uppermost leaf sheaths;

primary branches 5-14 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary, sometimes viscid, naked basally;

pulvini hairy, hairs to 6 mm;

pedicels (1)1.5-12 mm, diverging or 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.

(2.5)3-4.8 mm long, 0.9-1.4 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, reddish-purple, with 4-9 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 0.9-1.2 mm;

upper glumes 1-1.3 mm;

lemmas 1.1-1.4 mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, 3-veined, apices acute;

paleas 1-1.4 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.3 mm, purplish.
Caryopses

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

0.5-0.6 mm, ellipsoid, terete in cross section, neither ridged nor grooved, faintly striate, reddish-brown.
Comm

.).

2n

= 36 (Davidse, pers.

= unknown.

Eragrostis airoides

Eragrostis silveana
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
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.)

Eragrostis silveana grows in various open habitats, from sandy prairies to clay loam flats, near roadsides, railroads, and fields at 0-100 m. Its range is limited to the coastal plain of Texas and northern Mexico. Morphologically, E. silveana is somewhat intermediate between E. spectabilis and E. curtipedicellata, and grows where the distribution of these two species overlaps.

(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. plana, E. polytricha, E. prolifera, E. refracta, E. reptans, E. scaligera, E. secundiflora, E. sessilispica, E. setifolia, E. spectabilis, E. spicata, E. superba, E. swallenii, E. tef, E. trichodes, E. trichophora, E. unioloides
Name authority Nees Swallen
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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