Eragrostis ciliaris
Eragrostis reptans
gophertail lovegrass
creeping lovegrass
(3)9-75 cm, erect or geniculate in the lower portion, not rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous.
rooting at the lower nodes, erect portion 5-20 cm, glabrous, pilose, or villous, particularly below the panicles.
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.
mostly scabrous, margins sometimes with 0.1-0.4 mm hairs;
ligules 0.1-0.6 mm;
blades 1-4 cm long, 1-4.5 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces appressed pubescent, hairs about 0.2 mm.
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, 1-3 cm long, 0.6-2.5 cm wide, ovate, contracted, exerted or partially included in the upper leaf sheaths, rachises somewhat viscid, pilose or glabrous;
primary branches 0.5-1.5 cm, appressed to the rachises, each terminating in a spikelet;
pulvini sparsely pilose or glabrous;
pedicels 0.2-2 mm, shorter than the spikelets, glabrous or hairy.
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.
5-26 mm long, 1.5-4.7 mm wide, linear to ovate, greenish to stramineous, with 16-60 florets;
disarticulation in the pistillate florets basipetal, the lemmas falling separately, staminate spikelets not or tardily disarticulating.
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.
unequal, ovate, hyaline, glabrous or sparsely hirsute;
lower glumes 0.8-1.6 mm, 1-veined;
upper glumes 1.5-2.5 mm, 1-3-veined;
lemmas (1.5)1.8-4 mm, ovate, hyaline to membranous, lateral veins conspicuous, greenish, apices acute to acuminate, sometimes prolonged into a mucro, mucros to 0.4 mm;
paleas 0.7-3.8 mm, hyaline, about 1/2 as long as the lemmas in pistillate florets, as long as the lemmas in staminate florets, keels scabridulous;
anthers 3, 1.4-2.2 mm, reddish to yellowish.
0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown.
0.4-0.6 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat laterally compressed, smooth, light reddish-brown.
= 20, 40.
= 60.
Eragrostis ciliaris
Eragrostis reptans
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 reptans grows in wet sand, gravel, and clay soils along rivers and lake margins from the United States to northern Mexico, at 0-400 m, frequently with Cynodon dactylon and Heliotropium. It flowers from April through November.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
