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gophertail lovegrass

creeping love grass, teal love grass, teel lovegrass, éragrostide hypnoide

Habit Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glands. Plants annual; stoloniferous, mat-forming, without innovations, without glands.
Culms

(3)9-75 cm, erect or geniculate in the lower portion, not rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous.

decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, erect portion (2)5-12(20) cm, often branched, glabrous or hairy on the lower internodes.

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.

pilose on the margins, collars, and at the apices, hairs 0.1-0.6 mm;

ligules 0.3-0.6 mm;

blades 0.5-2.5 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces appressed pubescent, hairs about 0.2 mm.

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.

terminal and axillary, 1-3.5 cm long, 0.7-2.5 cm wide, ovate, open to somewhat congested;

primary branches 0.1-0.5 cm, appressed to strongly divergent, glabrous;

pulvini sparsely pilose or glabrous;

pedicels 0.2-1 mm, ciliate.

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.

4-13 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, linear-oblong, often arcuate, loosely imbricate, greenish-yellow to purplish, with 12-35 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

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.

linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, hyaline;

lower glumes 0.4-0.7 mm;

upper glumes 0.8-1.2 mm;

lemmas 1.4-2 mm, ovate, strongly 3-veined, veins greenish, apices acuminate;

paleas 0.7-1.2 mm, hyaline, keels scabridulous, apices acute to obtuse;

anthers 2, 0.2-0.3 mm, brownish.

Caryopses

0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown.

0.3-0.5 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat translucent, light brown.

2n

= 20, 40.

= 20.

Eragrostis ciliaris

Eragrostis hypnoides

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NJ; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; 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; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; PR; MB; ON; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 hypnoides grows along muddy or sandy shores of lakes and rivers and in moist, disturbed sites, at 10-1600 m. It is native to the Americas, extending from southern Canada to Argentina.

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

Key
1. Panicles 0.2-1.5 cm wide, contracted, the branches mostly appressed to the rachises, congested, forming glomerate lobes; spikelets densely packed
var. ciliaris
1. Panicles 1.5-5 cm wide, open, the branches spreading 20-50° from the rachises; spikelets widely separated from each other
var. laxa
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 71. FNA vol. 25, p. 72.
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. cilianensis, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
E. ciliaris var. ciliaris, E. ciliaris var. laxa
Synonyms E. weigeltiana
Name authority (L.) R. Br. (Lam.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
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