Eragrostis curvula
Eragrostis sessilispica
weeping love grass
tumble lovegrass
(45)60-150 cm, erect, glabrous or glandular.
30-90 cm, erect or decumbent, glabrous below the nodes.
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.
hairy at the apices and on the collars, sometimes also on the distal portion of the margins, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.4-0.5 mm;
blades 5-30 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, usually involute, sometimes flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely pilose, hairs to 5 mm, adaxial surfaces scabridulous.
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.
20-65 cm long, 10-35 cm wide, ovate, open;
primary branches 2-20(24) cm, widely spaced, diverging 20-100° from the rachises, not rebranched, naked basally;
pulvini hairy;
pedicels 0-12 mm, appressed, proximal spikelets on each branch sessile or subsessile, the pedicels shorter than 0.4 mm.
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.
5-13 mm long, 1.4-3 mm wide, oblong to oblanceolate, stramineous to reddish-purple, with 3-12 florets;
disarticulation tardy, basipetal, in the rachilla below the florets, glumes persistent.
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, broad basally, indurate;
lower glumes 2.5-6 mm;
upper glumes 3-6 mm, apices acuminate;
lemmas 3-5 mm, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, indurate, apices acuminate;
paleas 2.4-4.6 mm, indurate, gibbous basally but the sides not projecting beyond the lemmas, keels ciliolate, apices obtuse;
anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm, reddish-brown.
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.
0.9-1.5 mm, ovoid to pyriform, laterally flattened, tapering distally, smooth to faintly striate, brownish.
= 40, 50.
= 40.
Eragrostis curvula
Eragrostis sessilispica
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 sessilispica grows in prairies, limestone mesas, partial forest openings, and grasslands, generally in sandy soils, at 0-1220 m, often in association with Prosopsis and Quercus. Its range extends into northern Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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