Eragrostis lehmanniana
Eragrostis airoides
Lehmann lovegrass, Lehmann's love grass
darnel lovegrass
(20)40-80 cm, erect, commonly geniculate, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous, lower portions sometimes scabridulous.
30-110 cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.
sometimes shortly silky pilose basally, hairs less than 2 mm, apices sparsely hairy, hairs to 3 mm;
ligules 0.3-0.5 mm, ciliate;
blades 2-12 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous, abaxial surfaces sometimes scabridulous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous.
glabrous or pilose, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.1-0.2 mm;
blades 8-22 mm long, (1)2-4(5) mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.
7-18 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, oblong, open;
primary branches 1-8 cm, appressed or diverging to 40° from the rachises;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.5-4 mm, diverging or appressed, flexible.
18-70 cm long, 3-25 cm wide, diffuse, ovate;
primary branches 4-20 cm, appressed or diverging 10-70° from the rachises, naked basally;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 2.4-11 mm, divergent.
5-12(14) mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, plumbeous to stramineous, with 4-12(14) florets;
disarticulation irregular to basipetal, paleas usually persistent.
1.3-2 mm long, 0.8-1.8 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, plumbeous, with 1-3 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, in the rachilla below the florets, glumes deciduous;
rachilla prolonged above the terminal floret.
oblong to lanceolate, membranous;
lower glumes 1-1.5 mm;
upper glumes 1.3-2 mm;
lemmas 1.5-1.7 mm, ovate, membranous, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute to obtuse;
paleas 1.4-1.7 mm, obtuse;
anthers 3, 0.6-0.9 mm, yellowish.
lanceolate to ovate, membranous;
lower glumes 0.8-1 mm;
upper glumes 1.1-1.4 mm;
lemmas 0.8-1.2 mm, ovate, membranous, plumbeous, keels and lateral veins inconspicuous, apices obtuse;
paleas 0.8-1.2 mm, membranous, bases not projecting beyond the lemmas, apices obtuse;
anthers 3, 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish.
0.6-0.8 mm, ellipsoid to obovoid, dorsally compressed, sometimes with a shallow adaxial groove, smooth, translucent, mostly light brown, embryo region dark brown with a greenish ring.
0.4-0.5 mm, ovoid, reticulate, reddish-brown.
.).
= 40, 60.
= 36 (Davidse, pers.
Eragrostis lehmanniana
Eragrostis airoides
Eragrostis lehmanniana is native to southern Africa, where it grows in sandy, savannah habitats. It was introduced for erosion control in the southern United States, where it often displaces native species. In the Flora region, it grows in sandy flats, along roadsides, on calcareous slopes, and in disturbed areas, at 200-1830 m. It is commonly found in association with Larrea tridentata, Opuntia, Quercus, Juniperus, and Bouteloua gracilis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Eragrostis airoides is a South American species that, in the Flora region, is known only from roadsides and disturbed sites in Brazos County, Texas. It is an enigmatic species, often treated as Sporobolus brasiliensis (Raddi) Hack., which it resembles in its chromosome base number of x = 9 and caryopsis morphology, but its frequent possession of spikelets with more than 1 floret and its mode of spikelet disarticulation argue for its retention in Eragrostis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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