Eragrostis frankii |
Eragrostis tef |
|
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sandbar lovegrass, éragrostide de Frank |
teff |
|
Habit | Plants annual; cespitose, without innovations. | Plants annual; loosely tufted, without innovations, without glands. |
Culms | 10-50 cm, erect to geniculate, glabrous, often with glandular pits below the nodes. |
25-60 cm, erect, glabrous and shiny. |
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. |
mostly glabrous, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm; ligules 0.2-0.4 mm, ciliate; blades 10-30 cm long, 2-5.5 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially. |
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. |
10-45 cm long, 2.5-22 cm wide, ovate, open to contracted; primary branches 4-17 cm, appressed or diverging up to 50° from the rachises, flexible, naked below; pulvini glabrous or hairy, hairs to 5 mm; pedicels 2.5-17 mm, appressed or divergent. |
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. |
4-11 mm long, 1.3-2.5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate to ovate, stramineous, grayish-green to purplish, with 4-16 florets; disarticulation tardy, acropetal, caryopses falling before the glumes and lemmas, 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. |
lanceolate, membranous to hyaline; lower glumes 1-2 mm; upper glumes 1.5-2.8 mm; lemmas 1.6-3 mm, lanceolate, membranous, apices acute; paleas 1.4-2.2 mm, hyaline, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse; anthers 3, 0.2-0.5 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. |
0.7-1.3 mm, obovoid, not grooved, smooth, light brown to whitish. |
2n | = 40, 80. |
= 40. |
Eragrostis frankii |
Eragrostis tef |
|
Distribution |
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
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NC; SC |
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 tef is native to northern Africa. In Ethiopia, it is used both as a grain and as fodder for cattle. It is also grown, but not commonly, for these purposes in the Flora region and is occasionally found as an escape from cultivation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 79. | FNA vol. 25, p. 85. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Eragrostis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. frankii var. brevipes | E. abyssinica |
Name authority | C.A. Mey. ex Steud. | (Zucc.) Trotter |
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