Eragrostis ciliaris |
Eragrostis intermedia |
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gophertail lovegrass |
plains lovegrass |
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Habit | Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glands. | Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. | ||||
Culms | (3)9-75 cm, erect or geniculate in the lower portion, not rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous. |
(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes. |
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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. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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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. |
3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets; disarticulation acropetal, paleas 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 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. |
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Caryopses | 0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown. |
0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown. |
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2n | = 20, 40. |
= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120. |
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Eragrostis ciliaris |
Eragrostis intermedia |
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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; FL; GA; KS; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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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 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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 71. | FNA vol. 25, p. 97. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | (L.) R. Br. | Hitchc. | ||||
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