Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis lugens

Eragrostis curtipedicellata

mourning lovegrass

gummy lovegrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations and short, knotty rhizomes less than 4 mm thick.
Culms

30-70 cm, erect, sometimes geniculate, glabrous below the nodes.

20-65 cm, erect, viscid.
Sheaths

usually mostly glabrous, summits hairy, hairs 2-5 mm, never papillose-based;

ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;

blades (4)8-22 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, involute to flat, both surfaces glabrous, margins sometimes with scattered hairs, hairs to 7 mm.

usually viscid, hairy at the apices and on the collars and margins, hairs to 6 mm;

ligules 0.1-0.3 mm;

blades 5-18 cm long, 2-4(5) mm wide, flat to involute, sometimes viscid, densely hairy behind the ligules, hairs to 8 mm.
Panicles

16-28 cm long, 10-21 cm wide, ovate, open;

primary branches 0.6-15 cm, diverging up to 100° from the rachises, naked basally;

pulvini hairy;

pedicels 1.4-5(7) mm, diverging, wiry, present on all spikelets.

18-35 cm long, 10-30 cm wide, broadly ovate, open;

primary branches 3-18 cm, diverging 10-90° from the rachises, stiff, viscid, naked basally;

pulvini hairy, hairs to 6 mm;

pedicels 0.2-1.2 mm, appressed.
Spikelets

2-4.5(5) mm long, 0.5-1(1.3) mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, plumbeous to reddish-purple, with 2-7 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.

3.5-6(7.6) mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, stramineous to reddish-purple, with 4-10 florets;

disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
Glumes

broadly ovate to narrowly lanceolate, hyaline, sometimes reddish-purple;

lower glumes 0.6-1 mm;

upper glumes 1.1-1.4 mm, usually broader than the lower glumes;

lemmas 1.2-1.8 mm, broadly ovate, mostly membranous but the distal margins hyaline, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;

paleas 1.1-1.7 mm, membranous to hyaline, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.7 mm, reddish-purple.

lanceolate, membranous;

lower glumes 0.9-1.8 mm;

upper glumes 1.2-2 mm, 1-3-veined;

lemmas 1.5-2.2 mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins evident, apices acute;

paleas 1.2-2 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse;

anthers 3, 0.2-0.4 mm, purplish.
Caryopses

0.5-0.6 mm, obovoid to somewhat prism-shaped, terete to somewhat laterally compressed, sometimes with a weak adaxial groove, finely striate, usually opaque, faintly reddish-brown to whitish.

0.6-0.8 mm, ellipsoid, terete in cross section, neither ridged nor grooved, faintly striate, reddish-brown.
2n

= 40, 80, ca. 108.

= 40.

Eragrostis lugens

Eragrostis curtipedicellata
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; CO; KS; LA; MO; NM; OK; TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eragrostis lugens grows on sandy dunes and along river banks, at 1-300 m. Its range extends from the southern United States to Peru and Argentina.

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

The range of Eragrostis curtipedicellata extends from southern Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri to northeastern Mexico. It grows near fields, along roadsides, and in the margins of woods, at 10-1525 m.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 95. FNA vol. 25, p. 89.
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. intermedia, E. japonica, E. lehmanniana, 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. curvula, E. cylindriflora, E. echinochloidea, E. elliottii, E. elongata, 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
Name authority Nees Buckley
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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