Eragrostis lehmanniana
Eragrostis spicata
Lehmann lovegrass, Lehmann's love grass
spike lovegrass
(20)40-80 cm, erect, commonly geniculate, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous, lower portions sometimes scabridulous.
75-100 cm, erect, glabrous.
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.
hirtellous on the margins when immature, apices glabrous or hairy shorter than 0.5 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;
blades 20-40 cm long, 2-5(6) mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous 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.
22-40 cm long, 0.3-0.6 cm wide, spikelike, dense;
primary branches shorter than 1.2 cm, closely appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.1-0.6 mm, mostly appressed, hirtellous.
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.
1.4-2.2 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, ovate, stramineous to light greenish, with 2-3 florets;
disarticulation basipetal, in the rachilla below the individual florets or at the base of the florets, glumes persistent.
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.
elliptic to ovate, hyaline, keels ciliolate;
lower glumes 0.7-1 mm;
upper glumes 0.9-1.3 mm, apices obtuse;
lemmas 1.5-2.1 mm, ovate, membranous to hyaline, apices acute to obtuse;
paleas 1.1-1.6 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse;
anthers 2, 0.3-0.4 mm, reddish-brown.
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.
0.7-1 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat ventrally flattened, smooth to faintly striate, reddish-brown.
= 40, 60.
= 40.
Eragrostis lehmanniana
Eragrostis spicata
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 spicata grows in moist areas in prairies, usually in deep, sandy, clay loam soils, at 0-70 m. It is native from southern Texas to Mexico and in Paraguay and Argentina. In North America, it grows with Andropogon, Quercus stellata, Prosopsis glandulosa, and Acacia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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