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weeping love grass

sawtooth lovegrass, Wilman lovegrass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, forming innovations at the basal nodes, without glands. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without glands.
Culms

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

45-95 cm, erect, glabrous.

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.

hairy at the apices and on the margins, hairs to 6 mm;

ligules 0.5-1.2 mm;

blades 7-30 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, margins sharply scabrous.

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.

10-30 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, oblong, condensed, interrupted below;

primary branches 1-11 cm, appressed or diverging to 40° from the rachises, naked basally;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.5-25 mm, with a narrow band or abscission line below the apices.

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.

5.5-16 mm long, 2.7-9 mm wide, ovate, flattened, greenish to stramineous, sometimes with a reddish-purple tinge, with 4-22 florets;

disarticulation below the glumes, spikelets falling intact.

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.

equal, 3-4.5 mm, ovate, chartaceous;

lemmas 3-5 mm, broadly lanceolate, chartaceous to leathery, lateral veins green, apices acute;

paleas 3-5 mm, chartaceous to hyaline, keels broadly winged below, forming a wing or tooth on each side that often projects beyond the lemma bases, apices acuminate;

anthers 3, 1.4-2.8 mm, golden-yellow.

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.

1-2 mm, ellipsoid, adaxial surfaces flattened, reddish-brown.

2n

= 40, 50.

= 40.

Eragrostis curvula

Eragrostis superba

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
AZ; CA; NM; TX; HI
[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 superba is native to Africa, where it is grown for hay, being fairly palatable and drought resistant. It is also used for erosion control and revegetation. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, in sandy flats, and along roadsides, at 480-1650 m, often with Acacia, Prosopsis, Fouquieria splendens, Juniperus, and Quercus. The English name is an appropriate description of the leaf blades.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 76. FNA vol. 25, p. 87.
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. 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. swallenii, E. tef, E. trichodes, E. trichophora, E. unioloides
Synonyms E. curvula var. conferta, E. chloromelas
Name authority (Schrad.) Nees Peyr.
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