Eragrostis ciliaris |
Eragrostis curvula |
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gophertail lovegrass |
weeping love grass |
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Habit | Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glands. | Plants perennial; cespitose, forming innovations at the basal nodes, without glands. | ||||
Culms | (3)9-75 cm, erect or geniculate in the lower portion, not rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous. |
(45)60-150 cm, erect, glabrous or glandular. |
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Sheaths | hairy on the margins and at the apices, hairs to 4 mm; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm; blades 1.8-12(15) cm long, 2-5 mm wide, usually flat, occasionally involute, glabrous or ciliate basally. |
with scattered hairs, hairs to 9 mm; ligules 0.6-1.3 mm; blades 12-50(65) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, adaxial surfaces with scattered hairs basally, hairs to 7 mm. |
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Panicles | 1.7-15 cm long, 0.2-5 cm wide, cylindrical, contracted or open, branches usually forming glomerate lobes, sometimes more open, often interrupted in the lower portion; primary branches 0.4-4 cm, appressed or diverging to 50° from the rachises; pulvini usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely pilose; pedicels 0.1-1 mm, erect, shorter than the spikelets, glabrous. |
16-35(40) cm long, (4)8-24 cm wide, ovate to oblong, open; primary branches 3-14 cm, diverging 10-80° from the rachises; pulvini glabrous or not; pedicels 0.5-5 mm, appressed, flexible. |
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Spikelets | 1.8-3.2 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, elliptical-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, yellowish-brown, sometimes with a purple tinge, with 6-11 florets; disarticulation basipetal, glumes peristent. |
4-8.2(10) mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, plumbeous to yellowish, with 3-10 florets; disarticulation irregular to acropetal, proximal rachilla segments persistent. |
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Glumes | ovate to lanceolate, keels scabridulous, veins commonly green, apices acute; lower glumes 0.7-1.2 mm; upper glumes 1-1.6 mm; lemmas 0.8-1.3 mm, elliptical-ovate to lanceolate, membranous, keels scabridulous, lateral veins evident, apices obtuse to acute; paleas 0.8-1.3 mm, membranous, keels prominently ciliate, cilia 0.2-0.8 mm, apices obtuse to acute; anthers 2, 0.1-0.3 mm, purplish. |
lanceolate, hyaline; lower glumes 1.2-2.6 mm; upper glumes 2-3 mm; lemmas 1.8-3 mm, ovate, membranous, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute; paleas 1.8-3 mm, hyaline to membranous, apices obtuse; anthers 3, 0.6-1.2 mm, reddish-brown. |
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Caryopses | 0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown. |
1-1.7 mm, ellipsoid to obovoid, dorsally compressed, adaxial surfaces with a shallow, broad groove or ungrooved, smooth, mostly translucent, light brown, bases often greenish. |
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2n | = 20, 40. |
= 40, 50. |
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Eragrostis ciliaris |
Eragrostis curvula |
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Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NJ; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WV; HI; PR
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Discussion | Eragrostis ciliaris is native to the paleotropics. It is naturalized in parts of the United States, growing along roadsides, on waste sites, in xerothermic vegetation, and sometimes in saline habitats, at 0-200 m. It may be more widespread than indicated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Eragrostis curvula is native to southern Africa. It is often used for reclamation because it provides good ground cover but, once introduced, it easily escapes. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, at the margins of woods, along roadsides, and in waste ground, at 20-2400 m, usually in pine-oak woodlands, and yellow pine and mixed hardwood forests. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 71. | FNA vol. 25, p. 76. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | E. curvula var. conferta, E. chloromelas | |||||
Name authority | (L.) R. Br. | (Schrad.) Nees | ||||
Web links |
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