Eragrostis intermedia
Eragrostis spectabilis
plains lovegrass
eragrostide brillante, purple love grass
(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.
30-70(85) cm, erect, glabrous.
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.
hairy on the margins and at the apices, hairs to 7 mm;
ligules 0.1-0.2 mm;
blades 10-32 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, flat to involute, both surfaces usually pilose, sometimes glabrous on both surfaces or glabrous abaxially and sparsely pilose adaxially, often with a line of hairs behind the ligules, hairs to 8 mm.
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.
(15)25-45(60) cm long, 15-35 cm wide, broadly ovate to oblong, open, basal portions sometimes included in the uppermost leaf sheaths;
primary branches (6)12-20 cm long, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary, naked below;
pulvini hairy, hairs to 6 mm;
pedicels 1.5-17 mm, divergent or appressed.
3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
3-7.5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, reddish-purple, sometimes olivaceous, with (4)6-12 florets;
disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
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 to equal, (1)1.3-2.3 mm, lanceolate, membranous to chartaceous;
lemmas (1)1.3-2.5 mm, ovate to lanceolate, leathery, 3-veined, apices acute;
paleas (1)1.2-2.4 mm, membranous, keels sometimes shortly ciliate, apices obtuse to truncate;
anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish.
0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.
0.6-0.8 mm, ellipsoid, strongly flattened, adaxial surfaces with 2 prominent ridges separated by a groove, reddish-brown.
= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.
= 20, 40, 42.
Eragrostis intermedia
Eragrostis spectabilis
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 spectabilis is native in the eastern portion of the Flora region, extending from southern Canada through the United States, Mexico, and Central America to Belize. It grows in fields and on the margins of woods, along roadsides, and in other disturbed sites, usually in sandy to clay loam soils, at 0-1830 m, and is associated with hardwood forests, Prosopsis-Acacia grasslands, and shortgrass prairies. A showy species, E. spectabilis is available commercially for planting as an ornamental.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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