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mourning lovegrass

slimflower lovegrass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants annual; tufted, without innovations, without glands.
Culms

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

(12)25-75 cm, usually erect, sometimes geniculate and branched below, glabrous, reddish.

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.

glabrous, apices usually with 0.3-2.2 mm hairs;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm, ciliate;

blades (5)7-17 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat to folded basally, involute apically, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, sometimes with scattered hairs near the base.

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.

(6)11-21 cm long, 1-13 cm wide, ovate to somewhat contracted, open;

primary branches 0.5-12 cm, (12)15-20 per culm, appressed or diverging up to 60° from the rachises, often capillary, naked near the base;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.3-5 mm, mostly 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.

2-4.6 mm long, 0.9-2 mm wide, narrowly ovate, greenish-yellow to plumbeous and with a reddish-purple tinge, with 5-15 florets;

disarticulation acropetal, paleas 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 to ovate, membranous;

lower glumes 0.4-0.9 mm;

upper glumes 1-1.3 mm, occasionally 3-veined;

lemmas 1-1.3 mm, broadly ovate, membranous, often reddish-purple, lateral veins conspicuous, often greenish, apices acute;

paleas 0.9-1.1 mm, hyaline, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse;

anthers 2, 0.1-0.2 mm, reddish-purple.

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.

0.3-0.5 mm, subglobose to obovoid, not grooved, translucent, faintly striate, reddish-brown.

2n

= 40, 80, ca. 108.

= 80.

Eragrostis lugens

Eragrostis gangetica

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; LA; MS
[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.)

Eragrostis gangetica is an Asian species that now grows in the southeastern United States. It can be found in the sandy margins of ponds, roadsides, and ditches, at 0-100 m, usually in association with Pinus, Taxodium distichum, Rynchospora, and Steinchisma hians. Eragrostis gangetica is similar to E. bahiensis, but differs from that species in its annual habit and shorter spikelets, lemmas, anthers, and caryopses.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 95. FNA vol. 25, p. 87.
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. curtipedicellata, E. curvula, E. cylindriflora, E. echinochloidea, E. elliottii, E. elongata, E. erosa, E. frankii, 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
Synonyms E. stenophylla, E. flamignii
Name authority Nees (Roxb.) Steud.
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