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sandbar lovegrass, éragrostide de Frank

eragrostide pecttnee, tuft love grass

Habit Plants annual; cespitose, without innovations. Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glandular pits.
Culms

10-50 cm, erect to geniculate, glabrous, often with glandular pits below the nodes.

10-80 cm, erect to geniculate or decumbent below, glabrous.

Sheaths

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.

hirsute at the apices, hairs to 4 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;

blades 2-20 cm long, 1-4.5 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous and smooth, adaxial surfaces scabridulous.

Panicles

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.

5-25 cm long, 3-12(15) cm wide, ovoid to pyramidal, usually open, sometimes contracted;

primary branches 0.6-8.5 cm, appressed or diverging to 80° from the rachises, solitary or paired at the lowest 2 nodes;

pulvini glabrous or sparsely hairy;

pedicels 1-7 mm, flexible, appressed to widely divergent, sometimes capillary.

Spikelets

(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.

3.5-11 mm long, 1.2-2.5 mm wide, linear-oblong to narrowly lanceolate, plumbeous, yellowish-brown, or dark reddish-purple, with 6-22 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

Glumes

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.

subulate to ovate-lanceolate, hyaline;

lower glumes 0.5-1.5 mm, at least 1/2 as long as the adjacent lemmas;

upper glumes 1-1.7 mm, usually broader than the lower glumes;

lemmas 1-2.2 mm, ovate-lanceolate, hyaline to membranous, grayish-green proximally, reddish-purple distally, lateral veins moderately conspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1-2 mm, hyaline to membranous, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.7 mm, purplish.

Caryopses

0.4-0.7 mm, ovoid to rectangular-prismatic, striate, reddish-brown, adaxial surfaces flat or shallowly grooved, distal 2/3 opaque.

0.5-1.1 mm, pyriform, slightly laterally compressed, smooth, faintly striate, brownish.

2n

= 40, 80.

= 60.

Eragrostis frankii

Eragrostis pectinacea

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; PR; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 pectinacea is native from southern Canada to Argentina. In the Flora region, it grows in disturbed sites such as roadsides, railroad embankments, gardens, and cultivated fields, at 0-1200 m.

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

Key
1. Anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long
var. tracyi
1. Anthers 0.2-0.4 mm long.
→ 2
2. Pedicels appressed, rarely diverging to 20° from the branches
var. pectinacea
2. Pedicels widely divergent, usually diverging 20-60° from the branches
var. miserrima
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 79. FNA vol. 25, p. 81.
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. curvula, E. cylindriflora, E. echinochloidea, E. elliottii, E. elongata, E. erosa, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
E. pectinacea var. miserrima, E. pectinacea var. pectinacea, E. pectinacea var. tracyi
Synonyms E. frankii var. brevipes
Name authority C.A. Mey. ex Steud. (Michx.) Nees
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