Eragrostis lugens
Eragrostis superba
mourning lovegrass
sawtooth lovegrass, Wilman lovegrass
30-70 cm, erect, sometimes geniculate, glabrous below the nodes.
45-95 cm, erect, glabrous.
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.
hairy at the apices and on the margins, hairs to 6 mm;
ligules 0.5-1.2 mm;
blades 7-30 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, margins sharply scabrous.
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.
10-30 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, oblong, condensed, interrupted below;
primary branches 1-11 cm, appressed or diverging to 40° from the rachises, naked basally;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.5-25 mm, with a narrow band or abscission line below the apices.
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.
5.5-16 mm long, 2.7-9 mm wide, ovate, flattened, greenish to stramineous, sometimes with a reddish-purple tinge, with 4-22 florets;
disarticulation below the glumes, spikelets falling intact.
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.
equal, 3-4.5 mm, ovate, chartaceous;
lemmas 3-5 mm, broadly lanceolate, chartaceous to leathery, lateral veins green, apices acute;
paleas 3-5 mm, chartaceous to hyaline, keels broadly winged below, forming a wing or tooth on each side that often projects beyond the lemma bases, apices acuminate;
anthers 3, 1.4-2.8 mm, golden-yellow.
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.
1-2 mm, ellipsoid, adaxial surfaces flattened, reddish-brown.
= 40, 80, ca. 108.
= 40.
Eragrostis lugens
Eragrostis superba
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 superba is native to Africa, where it is grown for hay, being fairly palatable and drought resistant. It is also used for erosion control and revegetation. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, in sandy flats, and along roadsides, at 480-1650 m, often with Acacia, Prosopsis, Fouquieria splendens, Juniperus, and Quercus. The English name is an appropriate description of the leaf blades.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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