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stink grass, stinking lovegrass, éragrostide fétide

plains lovegrass

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

15-45(65) cm, erect or decumbent, sometimes with crateriform glands below the nodes.

(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.

Sheaths

glabrous, occasionally glandular, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;

ligules 0.4-0.8 mm, ciliate;

blades (1)5-20 cm long, (1)3-5(10) mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes glandular, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, occasionally also hairy.

sparsely pilose on the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 8 mm, not papillose-based;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades (4)10-20(30) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind the ligules, elsewhere usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hairy.

Panicles

(3)5-16(20) cm long, 2-8.5 cm wide, oblong to ovate, condensed to open;

primary branches 0.4-5 cm, appressed or diverging 20-80° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or hairy;

pedicels 0.2-3 mm, stout, straight, stiff, usually divergent, occasionally appressed.

15-40 cm long, (8.5)15-30 cm wide, ovate, open;

primary branches 4-25 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary;

pulvini hairy or glabrous;

pedicels 2-14 mm, divergent.

Spikelets

6-20 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, plumbeous, greenish, with 10-40 florets;

disarticulation below the florets, each floret falling as a unit, rachillas persistent.

3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

Glumes

broadly ovate to lanceolate, membranous, usually glandular;

lower glumes 1.2-2 mm, usually 1-veined;

upper glumes 1.2-2.6 mm, often 3-veined;

lemmas 2-2.8 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, keels with 1-3 crateriform glands, apices obtuse to acute;

paleas 1.2-2.1 mm, hyaline, keels scabrous, sometimes also ciliate, cilia to 0.3 mm, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.5 mm, yellow.

lanceolate to ovate, hyaline to membranous;

lower glumes 1.1-1.7 mm, narrower than the upper glumes;

upper glumes 1.3-2 mm, apices acuminate to acute;

lemmas 1.6-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous, hyaline near the margins, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 3, 0.5-0.8 mm, purplish.

Caryopses

0.5-0.7 mm, globose to broadly ellipsoid, smooth to faintly striate, not grooved, reddish-brown or translucent.

0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.

2n

= 20.

= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.

Eragrostis cilianensis

Eragrostis intermedia

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; AB; BC; MB; NS; ON; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; KS; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis cilianensis is an introduced European species that now grows in disturbed sites such as pastures and roadsides, at 0-2300 m, through most of the contiguous United States and southern Canada. The English name refers to the odor of fresh plants.

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

Eragrostis intermedia grows in clay, sandy, and rocky soils, often in disturbed sites, at 0-1850 m. Its range extends from the United States through Mexico and Central America to South America. Eragrostis intermedia is similar to the more widespread E. lugens, but differs from that species in having wider spikelets, longer lemmas, and caryopses with a prominent adaxial groove.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 83. FNA vol. 25, p. 97.
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. barrelieri, E. capillaris, 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. 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
Synonyms E. megastachya, E. major
Name authority (All.) Vignolo ex Janch Hitchc.
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