Eragrostis refracta
Eragrostis spicata
coastal lovegrass
spike lovegrass
30-85(110) cm, glabrous and shiny below the nodes.
75-100 cm, erect, glabrous.
sparsely hairy at the apices, hairs to 6 mm;
ligules 0.1-0.4 mm;
blades 10-35 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous and sparsely pilose adaxially, hairs to 7 mm.
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.
(25)30-60 cm long, 25-40 cm wide, broadly ovate to obovate, open, diffuse;
primary branches 5-25 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary;
pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 0.5-25 mm, appressed, only the terminal pedicels on each branch longer than the spikelets.
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.
4-18(23) mm long, 1.4-3.4 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, grayish-green or stramineous to purplish, with (4)9-30 florets;
disarticulation tardy, basipetal, in the rachillas below the florets, glumes 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.
narrowly lanceolate, membranous;
lower glumes 0.8-2.4 mm;
upper glumes 1.5-2.6 mm;
lemmas 1.4-2.8 mm, lanceolate, membranous, apices acute to acuminate;
paleas 1-2.6 mm, hyaline to membranous, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute;
anthers 2, 0.3-0.5 mm, purplish or brownish.
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.
0.5-0.9 mm, ovoid to ellipsoid, finely striate, reddish-brown.
0.7-1 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat ventrally flattened, smooth to faintly striate, reddish-brown.
= 28.
= 40.
Eragrostis refracta
Eragrostis spicata
Eragrostis refracta grows in sandy pinelands, savannahs, marshes, and woodlands on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, at 0-150 m. It is not known from Mexico.
(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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