Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis unioloides
sandbar lovegrass, éragrostide de Frank
Chinese lovegrass
10-50 cm, erect to geniculate, glabrous, often with glandular pits below the nodes.
10-50 cm, erect, 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.
mostly basal;
sheaths mostly glabrous, apices pilose, hairs 0.4-3 mm;
ligules 0.1-0.2 mm, ciliate;
blades (1.8)5-12 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous and glabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs appressed.
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.
6-15 cm long, 0.5-7 cm wide, ovate, open to contracted;
primary branches 0.2-5 cm, appressed or diverging up to 70° from the rachises, glabrous;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 2-8 mm, glabrous.
(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.
4-8(10) mm long, (1.6)2-4 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, loosely imbricate, straw-colored to purplish, with 12-42 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas not persistent, rachillas 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.
ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, hyaline to membranous;
lower glumes 1-1.8 mm;
upper glumes 1-2.2 mm;
lemmas 1.5-1.9 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, lateral veins raised, apices obtuse to acute;
paleas 1.4-1.9 mm, hyaline, keels scabridulous, apices acute to obtuse;
anthers 2, 0.2-0.4 mm, purplish.
0.4-0.7 mm, ovoid to rectangular-prismatic, striate, reddish-brown, adaxial surfaces flat or shallowly grooved, distal 2/3 opaque.
0.6-0.9 mm, ellipsoid, laterally compressed, not grooved, smooth, light brown.
= 40, 80.
= 20, ca. 30.
Eragrostis frankii
Eragrostis unioloides
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 unioloides is an Asian species that is now established in the southeastern United States, growing along roadsides and in disturbed ground, at 20-150 m.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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