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plains lovegrass

long lovegrass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular.
Culms

(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.

28-60 cm, erect to decumbent, glabrous below the nodes.

Sheaths

sparsely pilose on the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 8 mm, not papillose-based;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades (4)10-20(30) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind the ligules, elsewhere usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hairy.

glabrous, apices sparsely hairy, hairs to 2 mm;

ligules 0.3-0.4 mm;

blades 5-20 cm long, 0.8-3 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, occasionally hairy near the base.

Panicles

15-40 cm long, (8.5)15-30 cm wide, ovate, open;

primary branches 4-25 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary;

pulvini hairy or glabrous;

pedicels 2-14 mm, divergent.

terminal, (5)8-20(22) cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, spicate to narrowly ovate, branches condensed into glomerate lobes;

primary branches 0.8-3 cm, appressed or diverging up to 90° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to the base;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.2-1.3 mm, flattened, mostly appressed, all shorter than the spikelets.

Spikelets

3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

3-7 mm long, 1.8-2.4 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, stramineous with a reddish-purple tinge, with 8-18 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, glumes first, then the lemmas, paleas persistent.

Glumes

lanceolate to ovate, hyaline to membranous;

lower glumes 1.1-1.7 mm, narrower than the upper glumes;

upper glumes 1.3-2 mm, apices acuminate to acute;

lemmas 1.6-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous, hyaline near the margins, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 3, 0.5-0.8 mm, purplish.

subequal, 1.2-2 mm, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, membranous;

lemmas 1.5-2.2 mm, lanceolate to ovate, leathery, greenish, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.1-1.7 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, keels ciliate, cilia to 0.2 mm, apices obtuse to acute;

anthers 2, 0.2-0.3 mm, purplish.

Caryopses

0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.

0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, not grooved, smooth, light brown.

2n

= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.

= unknown.

Eragrostis intermedia

Eragrostis elongata

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; KS; LA; MA; ME; MO; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; SC; HI
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis intermedia grows in clay, sandy, and rocky soils, often in disturbed sites, at 0-1850 m. Its range extends from the United States through Mexico and Central America to South America. Eragrostis intermedia is similar to the more widespread E. lugens, but differs from that species in having wider spikelets, longer lemmas, and caryopses with a prominent adaxial groove.

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

Eragrostis elongata is native to southeastern Asia and Australia, where it grows in disturbed, sandy soils at 0-50 m. It was collected once near Washington, D.C., probably as an escape from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's experimental grass garden; it has not become established in the Flora region.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 97. FNA vol. 25, p. 101.
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. frankii, E. gangetica, E. hirsuta, E. hypnoides, 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. 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. 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
Synonyms E. diandra
Name authority Hitchc. (Willd.) Jacq.
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