Flora of North America species comparison

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Eragrostis secundiflora

Eragrostis obtusiflora

red lovegrass

alkali lovegrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Plants perennial; rhizomatous, sometimes also stoloniferous, with many innovations and scaly, sharp-tipped rhizomes 4-8 mm thick.
Culms

30-75 cm, erect, glabrous below.

15-40(50) cm, erect, stiff, hard.
Sheaths

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.

hairy at the apices, hairs to 2 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm, membranous, ciliate;

blades 2-15 cm long, (1)2-4 mm wide, involute, arcuate, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, apices sharply pointed.
Panicles

(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.

terminal, 6-20(24) cm long, 2-8(12) cm wide, ovate, open or contracted;

primary branches 1-8(15) cm, appressed or diverging up to 50° from the rachises;

pulvini glabrous or not;

pedicels 0-8 mm, appressed, lower pedicels on each branch shorter than 1 mm.
Spikelets

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.

8-14 mm long, 1.4-3 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, stramineous with a reddish-purple tinge, with 5-10 florets;

disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
Glumes

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.

unequal, chartaceous;

lower glumes 2.4-3.6 mm;

upper glumes 3-4.5 mm, sometimes 3-veined;

lemmas 3.8-4.5 mm, ovate, leathery, 3(4, 5)-veined, lateral veins evident, greenish, upper margins hyaline, apices acute to obtuse, usually erose;

paleas 3.8-4.5 mm, membranous, keels scabridulous, apices obtuse to truncate;

anthers 3, 2-2.4 mm, purplish to yellowish.
Caryopses

0.8-1.3 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat laterally flattened, smooth, reddish-brown.

1.6-2 mm, ellipsoid, dorsally flattened, with a shallow adaxial groove, striate, reddish-brown.
2n

= 40.

= 40.

Eragrostis secundiflora

Eragrostis obtusiflora
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CO; FL; GA; KS; LA; MO; MS; NC; NE; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Discussion

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 obtusiflora is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It grows in dry or wet alkali flats, often in association with Distichlis and Sarcobatus, at 900-1400 m.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 99. FNA vol. 25, p. 89.
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. 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. 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. japonica, E. lehmanniana, E. lugens, E. lutescens, E. mexicana, E. minor, 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
Name authority J. Presl (E. Fourn.) Scribn.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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