Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis polytricha
sandbar lovegrass, éragrostide de Frank
hairysheath lovegrass
10-50 cm, erect to geniculate, glabrous, often with glandular pits below the nodes.
30-62 cm, erect, glabrous and shiny 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.
sometimes densely pilose dorsally and on the collars, margins and apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;
blades 5-20(33) cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, involute to flat, both surfaces with scattered hairs, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind the ligules, hairs to 7 mm.
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.
15-25 cm long, 5-27 cm wide, ovate, open;
primary branches 0.6-15 cm, diverging up to 90° from the rachises, capillary, naked basally;
pulvini hairy, hairs to 8 mm;
pedicels 1.4-10(16) mm, divergent.
(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.
(2.5)3-5 mm long, 1.1-1.6 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate to linear-oblong, plumbeous, with 4-9 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.
broadly ovate to narrowly lanceolate, hyaline to membranous;
lower glumes 1.1-1.6 mm;
upper glumes 1.2—1.8 mm;
lemmas 1.2-1.8 mm, broadly ovate, membranous throughout, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1.1-1.7 mm, membranous to hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse;
anthers 3, 0.3—0.5 mm, reddish-purple.
0.4-0.7 mm, ovoid to rectangular-prismatic, striate, reddish-brown, adaxial surfaces flat or shallowly grooved, distal 2/3 opaque.
0.5-0.8 mm, obovoid to somewhat prism-shaped, laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, finely striate, opaque to translucent, reddish-brown.
= 40, 80.
= 60, 80.
Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis polytricha
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 polytricha grows in sandy and rocky areas, at 0-30 m, usually in open pinelands. It is native to Florida but its primary range lies to the south of the Flora region, from southern Mexico through Central America to Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
KS Wildflowers
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
