Eragrostis airoides
Eragrostis trichodes
darnel lovegrass
sand lovegrass
30-110 cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.
30-120 (160) cm, erect, glabrous and non-glandular below the nodes.
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.
sometimes villous along the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.3-0.5 mm;
blades 15-46(65) cm long, 1.5-8 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, sometimes also pilose on the basal 1/4, hairs to 4 mm.
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.
30-80 cm long, 6-30 cm wide, oblong to ovoid, diffuse;
primary branches 2-35 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, naked basally;
pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 2-22 cm, diverging, capillary.
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.
3-15 mm long, 1.5—3.6 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, greenish-yellow with a reddish-purple tinge, with (2)4-18 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
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, 1.8-4 mm, narrowly ovate to linear-lanceolate, membranous, apices acuminate;
upper glumes as long as or longer than the basal lemmas;
lemmas 2.2-3.5 mm, broadly ovate to lanceolate, membranous, strongly keeled, keels not glandular, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1.8-2.8 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, keels ciliolate, apices obtuse to truncate;
anthers 3, 1-1.6 mm, purplish.
0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reticulate, reddish-brown.
0.8-1.3 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a wide, deep adaxial groove, faintly striate, opaque, dark reddish-brown.
.).
= 36 (Davidse, pers.
= 40.
Eragrostis airoides
Eragrostis trichodes
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 trichodes grows in sandy to gravelly prairies, open sandy woods, rocky slopes, and roadsides, at 100-2150 m, often in associations with Quercus marilandica, Q. stellata, Juniperus, and Redfieldia flexuosa. It is endemic to the contiguous United States, and is available commercially as an ornamental. Records from outside the primary range probably reflect introductions.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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