Eragrostis secundiflora
Eragrostis intermedia
red lovegrass
plains lovegrass
30-75 cm, erect, glabrous below.
(30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes.
mostly glabrous, hairy at the apices, hairs to 4 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;
blades 10-25(40) cm long, 1-5 mm wide, involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, sometimes also sparsely pilose.
sparsely pilose on the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 8 mm, not papillose-based;
ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;
blades (4)10-20(30) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind the ligules, elsewhere usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hairy.
(3)5-30 cm long, 1-15 cm wide, from narrowly oblong, glomerate, and interrupted below to ovate and open;
primary branches 0.5-12(16) cm, appressed or diverging up to 40° from the rachises, stiff;
pulvini glabrous or sparsely hairy;
pedicels 0-1(3) mm, appressed, flattened.
15-40 cm long, (8.5)15-30 cm wide, ovate, open;
primary branches 4-25 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary;
pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 2-14 mm, divergent.
6-16(23) cm long, 2.4-5 mm wide, ovate to linear-elliptic, flattened, stramineous, with reddish-purple margins or completely reddish-purple, with 10-45 florets;
disarticulation basipetal, florets falling intact and before the glumes.
3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, membranous;
lower glumes 1.7-3 mm;
upper glumes 2.2-4 mm, apices acuminate;
lemmas 2-6 mm, ovate, membranous to leathery, apices usually acuminate or attenuate, sometimes acute;
paleas 1.5-3 mm, membranous to leathery, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse, sometimes bifid;
anthers 2, 0.2-0.5 mm, brownish.
lanceolate to ovate, hyaline to membranous;
lower glumes 1.1-1.7 mm, narrower than the upper glumes;
upper glumes 1.3-2 mm, apices acuminate to acute;
lemmas 1.6-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous, hyaline near the margins, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute;
anthers 3, 0.5-0.8 mm, purplish.
0.8-1.3 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat laterally flattened, smooth, reddish-brown.
0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.
= 40.
= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.
Eragrostis secundiflora
Eragrostis intermedia
There are two subspecies of E. secundiflora; plants from the Flora region belong to E. secundiflora subsp. oxylepis (Torrey) S.D. Koch. They grow in sandy soils, dunes, grasslands, beaches, and roadsides of the southern United States and northern Mexico, at 0-1000 m. Eragrostis secundiflora J. Presl subsp. secundiflora grows in Mexico and Central and South America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Eragrostis intermedia grows in clay, sandy, and rocky soils, often in disturbed sites, at 0-1850 m. Its range extends from the United States through Mexico and Central America to South America. Eragrostis intermedia is similar to the more widespread E. lugens, but differs from that species in having wider spikelets, longer lemmas, and caryopses with a prominent adaxial groove.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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