Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis palmeri
sandbar lovegrass, éragrostide de Frank
Rio Grande lovegrass
10-50 cm, erect to geniculate, glabrous, often with glandular pits below the nodes.
50-90(120) cm, glabrous below the nodes.
mostly glabrous, apices hirsute, hairs to 4 mm, often also with glandular pits;
ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, ciliate;
blades (2)4-10(21) cm long, 1-4 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridu-lous adaxially.
villous and the hairs not papillose-based, or mostly glabrous, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm, not papillose-based;
ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;
blades (14)20-35 cm long, 1-2.4 mm wide, involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, sometimes sparsely hairy.
4-20 cm long, less than 1/2 the height of the plants, 2-10(14) cm wide, narrowly elliptic, open;
primary branches 2-6 cm, compact, diverging 20-70° from the rachises, capillary, sometimes with glandular pits, naked basally;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 1.5-5 mm, divergent.
12-40 cm long, 4-20 cm wide, oblong, open;
primary branches 2-20 cm, diverging 20-70° from the rachises, capillary;
pulvini glabrous or sparsely hairy;
pedicels (0.4)1-4(14) mm, appressed or diverging, only the terminal pedicels on each branch longer than 4 mm.
(1.7)2-4(5.6) mm long, 1-2(2.5) mm wide, broadly ovate to lanceolate, plumbeous to reddish-purple, with 3-6 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
4-6(7.3) mm long, 1-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, plumbeous, with 5-12 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, hyaline;
lower glumes 1-1.5 mm;
upper glumes 1-1.8 mm;
lemmas 1.1-1.6 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1-1.5 mm, hyaline, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse;
anthers 2 or 3, 0.2-0.3 mm, purplish.
lanceolate to ovate, hyaline;
lower glumes 1.1-1.8 mm;
upper glumes 1.2-2.2 mm, exceeded by the basal lemmas;
lemmas 2-2.6 mm, ovate, membranous, hyaline towards the apices and margins, keels weak or strong, without glands, lateral veins from inconspicuous to conspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1.7-2.4 mm, hyaline, bases not projecting beyond the lemmas, apices truncate, often notched;
anthers 3, 0.6-1.3 mm, yellowish to purplish.
0.4-0.7 mm, ovoid to rectangular-prismatic, striate, reddish-brown, adaxial surfaces flat or shallowly grooved, distal 2/3 opaque.
0.6-0.8 mm, rectangular-prismatic to subellipsoid, laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, faintly striate, opaque, reddish-brown.
= 40, 80.
= 40.
Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis palmeri
Eragrostis frankii is native in the central and eastern United States, but it has been found, as an introduction, in southern Ontario, and appears to be increasingly common in the northeastern United States. It grows in moist meadows, along streams and sand bars, in forest openings, and along roadsides, at 5-1500 m, usually in association with Pinus, Quercus, Acer, and Fagus grandiflora. The record from Santa Fe County, New Mexico, is based on a specimen collected by Fendler in 1847; there are no other collections from the state. Fendler's specimens seem to represent either an accidental introduction that did not become established or a labeling error.
Eragrostis frankii is similar to E. capillaris, but differs in its frequent possession of glandular pits, its flat or more shallowly grooved caryopses, shorter pedicels, and glabrous sheath margins, and in having panicles that are usually less than half as long as the culms.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Eragrostis palmeri grows on rocky slopes and hills between 300-2150 m, generally in association with Pinus edulis, Juniperus monosperma, Bouteloua gracilis, and Prosopis. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into Mexico. It resembles E. erosa, but differs in its shorter lemmas and caryopses.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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