Eragrostis trichodes
Eragrostis echinochloidea
sand lovegrass
African love grass, tickgrass
30-120 (160) cm, erect, glabrous and non-glandular below the nodes.
30-100 cm, erect to geniculate, with narrow, sunken glandular bands.
sometimes villous along the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.3-0.5 mm;
blades 15-46(65) cm long, 1.5-8 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, sometimes also pilose on the basal 1/4, hairs to 4 mm.
sometimes glandular, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.4-1 mm;
blades 5-21 cm long, 2-6(7) mm wide, flat to involute, with small crateriform glands on the keels and veins, sparsely pilose adaxially.
30-80 cm long, 6-30 cm wide, oblong to ovoid, diffuse;
primary branches 2-35 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, naked basally;
pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 2-22 cm, diverging, capillary.
4-19 cm long, 0.8-7 cm wide, oblong to ovate, glomerate, spikelets clustered in 1-sided groups;
primary branches 0.5-7.5 cm, diverging 10-90° from the rachises, angled, sinuous, glandular;
pulvini hairy, hairs to 2 mm;
pedicels 0.2-2 mm, stout, erect, without a narrow band or abscission line near the apices.
3-15 mm long, 1.5—3.6 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, greenish-yellow with a reddish-purple tinge, with (2)4-18 florets;
disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent.
2-5 mm long, 2-3.5 mm wide, broadly ovate, greenish, stramineous to plumbeous, with 7-14 florets;
disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
subequal, 1.8-4 mm, narrowly ovate to linear-lanceolate, membranous, apices acuminate;
upper glumes as long as or longer than the basal lemmas;
lemmas 2.2-3.5 mm, broadly ovate to lanceolate, membranous, strongly keeled, keels not glandular, lateral veins conspicuous, apices acute;
paleas 1.8-2.8 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, keels ciliolate, apices obtuse to truncate;
anthers 3, 1-1.6 mm, purplish.
subequal, 1.7-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous, keels with small crateriform glands, apices acute to acuminate;
lemmas 1.8-2.3 mm, broadly ovate to orbicular, chartaceous, keels with small crateriform glands, apices acute to obtuse;
paleas 1.7-2.2 mm, chartaceous, each side with a broad wing at the base, wings often projecting beyond the lemma bases, apices acute;
anthers 3, 0.5-0.9 mm, yellowish.
0.8-1.3 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a wide, deep adaxial groove, faintly striate, opaque, dark reddish-brown.
0.8-1.1 mm, ellipsoid, reddish-brown.
= 40.
= 30.
Eragrostis trichodes
Eragrostis echinochloidea
Eragrostis trichodes grows in sandy to gravelly prairies, open sandy woods, rocky slopes, and roadsides, at 100-2150 m, often in associations with Quercus marilandica, Q. stellata, Juniperus, and Redfieldia flexuosa. It is endemic to the contiguous United States, and is available commercially as an ornamental. Records from outside the primary range probably reflect introductions.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Eragrostis echinochloidea is native to southern Africa. It is now established in Arizona, growing in gravel soils, often along roadsides and in sidewalks, from 700-1000 m. It has also been found in Prince George's County, Maryland.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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