Eragrostis intermedia
Eragrostis superba
plains lovegrass
sawtooth lovegrass, Wilman lovegrass
(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.
45-95 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 at the apices and on the margins, hairs to 6 mm;
ligules 0.5-1.2 mm;
blades 7-30 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, margins sharply scabrous.
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.
10-30 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, oblong, condensed, interrupted below;
primary branches 1-11 cm, appressed or diverging to 40° from the rachises, naked basally;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.5-25 mm, with a narrow band or abscission line below the apices.
3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
5.5-16 mm long, 2.7-9 mm wide, ovate, flattened, greenish to stramineous, sometimes with a reddish-purple tinge, with 4-22 florets;
disarticulation below the glumes, spikelets falling intact.
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.
equal, 3-4.5 mm, ovate, chartaceous;
lemmas 3-5 mm, broadly lanceolate, chartaceous to leathery, lateral veins green, apices acute;
paleas 3-5 mm, chartaceous to hyaline, keels broadly winged below, forming a wing or tooth on each side that often projects beyond the lemma bases, apices acuminate;
anthers 3, 1.4-2.8 mm, golden-yellow.
0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.
1-2 mm, ellipsoid, adaxial surfaces flattened, reddish-brown.
= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.
= 40.
Eragrostis intermedia
Eragrostis superba
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 superba is native to Africa, where it is grown for hay, being fairly palatable and drought resistant. It is also used for erosion control and revegetation. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, in sandy flats, and along roadsides, at 480-1650 m, often with Acacia, Prosopsis, Fouquieria splendens, Juniperus, and Quercus. The English name is an appropriate description of the leaf blades.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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