Eragrostis ciliaris
Eragrostis spicata
gophertail lovegrass
spike lovegrass
(3)9-75 cm, erect or geniculate in the lower portion, not rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous.
75-100 cm, erect, glabrous.
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.
hirtellous on the margins when immature, apices glabrous or hairy shorter than 0.5 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;
blades 20-40 cm long, 2-5(6) mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially.
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.
22-40 cm long, 0.3-0.6 cm wide, spikelike, dense;
primary branches shorter than 1.2 cm, closely appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.1-0.6 mm, mostly appressed, hirtellous.
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.
1.4-2.2 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, ovate, stramineous to light greenish, with 2-3 florets;
disarticulation basipetal, in the rachilla below the individual florets or at the base of the florets, glumes persistent.
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.
elliptic to ovate, hyaline, keels ciliolate;
lower glumes 0.7-1 mm;
upper glumes 0.9-1.3 mm, apices obtuse;
lemmas 1.5-2.1 mm, ovate, membranous to hyaline, apices acute to obtuse;
paleas 1.1-1.6 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse;
anthers 2, 0.3-0.4 mm, reddish-brown.
0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reddish-brown.
0.7-1 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat ventrally flattened, smooth to faintly striate, reddish-brown.
= 20, 40.
= 40.
Eragrostis ciliaris
Eragrostis spicata
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 spicata grows in moist areas in prairies, usually in deep, sandy, clay loam soils, at 0-70 m. It is native from southern Texas to Mexico and in Paraguay and Argentina. In North America, it grows with Andropogon, Quercus stellata, Prosopsis glandulosa, and Acacia.
(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 |
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