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Mediterranean love grass

bahia lovegrass

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

(5)10-60 cm, erect or decumbent, much-branched near the base, with a ring of glandular tissue below the nodes, rings often shiny or yellowish.

25-95(110) cm, erect, glabrous.

Sheaths

hairy at the apices, hairs to 4 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, ciliate;

blades 1.5-10 cm long, 1-3(5) mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, occasionally with white hairs to 3 mm, margins without crateriform glands.

glabrous, summits hairy, hairs 1-3 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades (8)12-40 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous and glabrous or long ciliate basally.

Panicles

4-20 cm long, 2.2-8(10) cm wide, ovate, open to contracted, rachises with shiny or yellowish glandular spots or rings below the nodes;

primary branches 0.5-6 cm, diverging 20-100° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 1-4 mm, stout, stiff, divergent, without glandular bands.

terminal, 15-30(45) cm long, (4)8-17 cm wide, narrowly ovate, open to contracted;

primary branches 5-15 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, often capillary, usually naked basally;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.3-6 mm, mostly appressed, scabridulous, always shorter than the spikelets.

Spikelets

4-7(11) mm long, 1.1-2.2 mm wide, narrowly ovate, reddish-purple to greenish, occasionally grayish, with 7-12(20) florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

6-15(18) mm long, 1.3-2(2.2) mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, plumbeous, occasionally with a reddish-purple tinge, with 8-30(40) florets;

disarticulation usually in the rachilla below the florets, occasionally the lemmas falling separately, leaving the paleas on the rachilla.

Glumes

broadly ovate, membranous, 1-veined;

lower glumes 0.9-1.4 mm;

upper glumes 1.2-1.6 mm;

lemmas 1.4-1.8 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, apices acute to obtuse;

paleas 1.3-1.7 mm, hyaline, keels scabrous, scabridities to 0.1 mm, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 3, 0.1-0.2 mm, reddish-brown.

lanceolate to ovate, membranous to subhyaline, keeled;

lower glumes 1-1.4 mm;

upper glumes 1.4-1.7 mm;

lemmas 1.5-2.2 mm, broadly ovate, leathery, scabridulous, lateral veins evident, apices acute;

paleas 1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, bases not projecting beyond the lemmas, keels scabridulous, apices acute to obtuse;

anthers 2, 0.4-0.6 mm, reddish-purple.

Caryopses

0.4-0.7 mm, ellipsoid, not grooved, smooth to faintly striate, light brown.

0.6-0.8 mm, obovoid to ellipsoid, terete, somewhat striate, reddish-brown.

2n

= 40.

= unknown.

Eragrostis barrelieri

Eragrostis bahiensis

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; CA; CO; FL; KS; LA; MA; MD; MO; NE; NM; NV; OK; SC; TN; TX; UT; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NJ; SC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis barrelieri is a European species that is now naturalized in the Flora region, primarily in the south-western United States. It grows on gravelly roadsides, in gardens, and other disturbed, sandy sites, especially near railroad yards, at 10-2000 m. The ring of glandular tissue is most conspicuous below the upper cauline nodes.

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

Eragrostis bahiensis grows in sandy soils near river banks, lake shores, and roadsides, at 0-200 m. Its range extends south from the Gulf Coast of the United States through Mexico to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 83. FNA vol. 25, p. 101.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis
Sibling taxa
E. airoides, E. amabilis, E. atrovirens, E. bahiensis, 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. 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
Name authority Daveau (Schrad.) Schult.
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