The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

weeping love grass

plains lovegrass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, forming innovations at the basal nodes, without glands. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular.
Culms

(45)60-150 cm, erect, glabrous or glandular.

(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.

Sheaths

with scattered hairs, hairs to 9 mm;

ligules 0.6-1.3 mm;

blades 12-50(65) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, adaxial surfaces with scattered hairs basally, hairs to 7 mm.

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.

Panicles

16-35(40) cm long, (4)8-24 cm wide, ovate to oblong, open;

primary branches 3-14 cm, diverging 10-80° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or not;

pedicels 0.5-5 mm, appressed, flexible.

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.

Spikelets

4-8.2(10) mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, plumbeous to yellowish, with 3-10 florets;

disarticulation irregular to acropetal, proximal rachilla segments persistent.

3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

Glumes

lanceolate, hyaline;

lower glumes 1.2-2.6 mm;

upper glumes 2-3 mm;

lemmas 1.8-3 mm, ovate, membranous, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.8-3 mm, hyaline to membranous, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.6-1.2 mm, reddish-brown.

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.

Caryopses

1-1.7 mm, ellipsoid to obovoid, dorsally compressed, adaxial surfaces with a shallow, broad groove or ungrooved, smooth, mostly translucent, light brown, bases often greenish.

0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.

2n

= 40, 50.

= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.

Eragrostis curvula

Eragrostis intermedia

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WV; HI; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; KS; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis curvula is native to southern Africa. It is often used for reclamation because it provides good ground cover but, once introduced, it easily escapes. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, at the margins of woods, along roadsides, and in waste ground, at 20-2400 m, usually in pine-oak woodlands, and yellow pine and mixed hardwood forests.

(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.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 76. FNA vol. 25, p. 97.
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. ciliaris, E. cumingii, E. curtipedicellata, 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. 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
Synonyms E. curvula var. conferta, E. chloromelas
Name authority (Schrad.) Nees Hitchc.
Web links