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mourning lovegrass

pond lovegrass

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

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

25-100(115) cm, erect or geniculate, lower portion glabrous and shiny.

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 at the apices and on the upper margins;

ligules 0.4-0.6 mm, scarious, glabrous;

blades (4)15-20(25) cm long, 1.5-6 mm wide, flat, sometimes auriculate, abaxial surfaces glabrous, smooth, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, Panicles 15-40 cm long, 0.8-5 cm wide, lanceoloid, contracted, interrupted near the base;

primary branches 2-10 cm, appressed or diverging to 30° from the rachises, spikelet-bearing to near the base;

pulvini glabrous;

pedicels 0.5-1.5 mm, sinuous.

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.

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.

2.2-3.8 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, yellowish-brown to whitish and hyaline, with 4-12 florets;

disarticulation basipetal, rachillas and 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.

subequal, 0.6-1 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, hyaline;

upper glumes without a midvein;

lemmas 0.9-1.2 mm, ovate, hyaline, lateral veins conspicuous basally, greenish, apices acute;

paleas 0.6-0.8 mm, hyaline, keels smooth basally, scabridulous distally, apices acute, often bifid;

anthers 2, 0.1-0.2 mm, whitish to light brown.

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.

0.3-0.4 mm, obovoid, smooth, reddish-brown.

2n

= 40, 80, ca. 108.

= 20.

Eragrostis lugens

Eragrostis japonica

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

Eragrostis japonica is native to the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere; it is now established in moist areas along rivers and streams in the southern portion of the contiguous United States, usually in sandy soils, at 0-200 m.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 95. FNA vol. 25, p. 74.
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. gangetica, E. hirsuta, E. hypnoides, E. intermedia, 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. glomerata
Name authority Nees (Thunb.) Trin.
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