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gophertail lovegrass

giant helleborine, Mexican love grass, Orcutt's lovegrass

Habit Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glands. Plants annual; cespitose, without innovations.
Culms

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

10-130 cm, erect, sometimes geniculate, glabrous, sometimes with a ring of glandular depressions below the nodes.

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.

sometimes with glandular pits, pilose near the apices and on the collars, hairs to 4 mm, papillose-based;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, ciliate;

blades 5-25 cm long, 2-7(9) mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, occasionally pubescent near the base.

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.

(5)10-40 cm long, (2)4-18 cm wide, ovate, rachises angled and channeled;

primary branches 3-12(15) cm, solitary to whorled, appressed or diverging to 80° from the rachises;

secondary branches somewhat appressed;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 1-6(7) mm, almost appressed to narrowly divergent, stiff.

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)5-10(11) mm long, 0.7-2.4 mm wide, ovate to linear-lanceolate, gray-green to purplish, with 5-11(15) florets;

disarticulation acropetal.

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.

subequal, 0.7-2(2.3) mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous;

lemmas 1.2-2.4 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous or with a few hairs, gray-green, lateral veins evident, often greenish, apices acute;

paleas 1-2.2 mm, hyaline, keels scabrous, apices obtuse to truncate;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.5 mm, purplish.

Caryopses

0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown.

0.5-0.8(1) mm, ovoid to rectangular-prismatic, laterally compressed, shallowly to deeply grooved on the adaxial surface, striate, reddish-brown, distal 2/3 opaque.

2n

= 20, 40.

= 60.

Eragrostis ciliaris

Eragrostis mexicana

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NJ; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; DE; FL; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; ND; NM; NV; OR; SC; TX; UT; WA; WI; BC; ON
[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 mexicana grows along roadsides, near cultivated fields, and in disturbed open areas, at 100-3000 m. It is native to the Americas, its native range extending from the southwestern United States through Mexico, Central and northern South America, to Argentina. Within the Flora region, it has been introduced beyond its native range, often becoming an established part of the flora.

(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
1. Spikelets ovate to oblong in outline, 1.5-2.4mm wide; lower glumes 1.2-2.3 mm long; sum of the spikelet width and lower glume length 2.7-4.7 mm; culms and sheaths sometimes with glandular depressions
subsp. mexicana
1. Spikelets linear to linear-lanceolate, 0.7-1.4 wide; lower glumes 0.7-1.7 mm long; sum of the spikelet width and lower glume length 1.5-3.1 mm; culms and sheaths without glandular depressions
subsp. virescens
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 71. FNA vol. 25, p. 78.
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. hypnoides, E. intermedia, E. japonica, E. lehmanniana, E. lugens, E. lutescens, 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
E. mexicana subsp. mexicana, E. mexicana subsp. virescens
Name authority (L.) R. Br. (Hornem.) Link
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