Flora of North America species comparison

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Eriochloa villosa

Eriochloa

hairy cup grass, ériochloé velue

cup grass
Habit Plants annual. Plants annual or perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes or stolons, not producing subterranean spikelets.
Culms

30-100 cm, erect or decumbent, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes;

nodes and internodes pubescent.

20-250 cm, erect or decumbent, usually with 2-5 nodes.
Sheaths

sometimes inflated, glabrous or pubescent;

ligules 0.5-1 mm;

blades 10-20 cm long, 5-12 mm wide, flat, adaxial surfaces hairy.

open;

auricles absent;

ligules membranous, ciliate.
Panicles

3-16 cm long, 1-3 cm wide;

rachises villous;

branches 2-8, 20-70 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, velutinous, sometimes winged, with 11-24 solitary spikelets (occasionally paired proximally);

pedicels 0.5-1 mm, densely villous below, often with long hairs intermixed with the short hairs, apices with more than 12 hairs of 1.5-2.5 mm.

Inflorescences

terminal, panicles of spikelike branches on elongate rachises;

branches with many pedicellate, loosely appressed spikelets, terminating in a spikelet, without stiff bristles or flat bracts, spikelets in pairs, triplets, or solitary, often solitary distally when in pairs or triplets at the middle of the branches;

pedicels terminating in a well-developed disk;

disarticulation below the glume(s).
Spikelets

3.9-5.2 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, ovate to elliptic.

with 2 florets, lower florets usually sterile, upper florets bisexual.
Lower glumes

occasionally present as a scale;

upper glumes equaling the lower lemmas, ovate to elliptic, glabrous or pubescent, 7-veined;

lower lemmas 3.4-5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, 5-veined, acute to apiculate, unawned;

lower paleas absent;

anthers absent;

upper lemmas 3.5-5 mm, ovate to elliptic, acute to apiculate.

typically reduced (sometimes absent) and fused with the glabrous callus to form a cuplike structure;

upper glumes lanceolate to ovate, glabrous or variously pubescent, 3-9-veined, unawned or awned;

lower lemmas similar to the upper glumes in length, shape, venation, and pubescence, unawned;

lower paleas absent to fully developed;

upper lemmas lanceolate to ovate, indurate, rugose, dull, glabrous, rounded on the back, veins not pronounced, margins involute;

anthers 3;

lodicules 2, papery;

styles with 2 branches, purple, plumose.
Caryopses

not longitudinally grooved;

endosperm solid, x = 9.
2n

= 54.

Eriochloa villosa

Eriochloa
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; FL; IA; IL; KS; MN; MO; MS; NE; OR; PA; VA; WI
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WI; HI; PR; ON; Virgin Islands
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eriochloa villosa is a weedy species of eastern Asia that has been found at scattered locations in the Flora region.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Eriochloa, a genus of 20-30 species, grows in tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate areas of the world. Eight species of Eriochloa are native to the Flora region and three are introduced. Of the three introduced species only two, E. polystachya and E. pseudoacrotricha, have become naturalized.

Only one native species, Eriochloa sericea, is abundant enough to be an important forage species. The introduced E. polystachya is also used for this purpose.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Spikelets solitary at the middle of the branches, sometimes in unequally pedicellate pairs near the base.
→ 2
2. Pedicels with more than 12 long (1.5-3 mm) hairs near the apices, densely hirsute or villous below, the hairs mostly about 0.1 mm long, but with some longer hairs interspersed among the short hairs.
→ 3
3. Blades 0.5-4 mm wide; spikelets 1.4-1.9 mm wide; plants perennial
E. sericea
3. Blades 5-12 mm wide; spikelets 2-2.5 mm wide; plants annual
E. villosa
2. Pedicels with fewer than 10 long (1.5-3 mm) hairs near the apices; variously hirsute below.
→ 4
4. Lower floret of each spikelet with a palea
E. michauxii
4. Lower floret of each spikelet without a palea.
→ 5
5. Rachises hairy, the longer hairs 0.1-0.8 mm long; spikelets 3.1-5 mm long, 1.2-1.7 mm wide
E. contracta
5. Rachises glabrous or scabrous, not hairy; spikelets 2.7-3.6 mm long, 0.8-1.5 mm wide
E. fatmensis
1. Spikelets in unequally pedicellate pairs or triplets at the middle of the branches, sometimes solitary distally.
→ 6
6. Adaxial surfaces of the blades velvety to the touch; cauline internodes pubescent to pilose.
E. lemmonii
6. Adaxial surfaces of the blades glabrous or hairy, but not velvety to the touch; cauline internodes glabrous or pubescent.
→ 7
7. Upper lemmas unawned or the awns shorter than 0.2(0.3) mm.
→ 8
8. Plants annual; upper glumes acute to acuminate, often terminating in awnlike apices up to 1.5 mm long; lower florets without paleas.
→ 9
9. Longer pedicels of the spikelet pairs or triplets to 1 mm long; upper glumes acute to acuminate, unawned or awned, the awns up to 1.2 mm long
E. acuminata
9. Longer pedicels of the spikelet pairs to 3 mm long; upper glumes always acuminate, awned, the awns 0.5-3.5 mm long
E. aristata
8. Plants perennial; upper glumes acute, unawned; lower floret of each spikelet usually with a palea.
→ 10
10. Culms erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; spikelets 3.7-5.7 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide; lower floret of each spikelet always with a palea.
E. michauxii
10. Culms decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes; spikelets 3.2-3.9 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide; lower floret of each spikelet with or without a palea
E. polystachya
7. Upper lemmas awned, the awns 0.2-1.5 mm long.
→ 11
11. Spikelets 2.7-3.6 mm long, 0.8-1.5 mm wide
E. fatmensis
11. Spikelets 3.6-8.8 mm long, 0.9-1.6 mm wide.
→ 12
12. Pedicels uniformly hirsute, the hairs about 0.1 mm long; plants rhizomatous
E. punctata
12. Pedicels with some hairs 0.5-2.5 mm long, at least distally; plants not rhizomatous.
→ 13
13. Plants perennial
E. pseudoacrotricha
13. Plants annual.
→ 14
14. Longer pedicels of the spikelet pairs or triplets to 1 mm long; upper glumes acute to acuminate, unawned or awned, the awns up to 1.2 mm long
E. acuminata
14. Longer pedicels of the spikelet pairs to 3 mm long; upper glumes always acuminate, awned, the awns 0.5-3.5 mm long
E. aristata
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 509. FNA vol. 25, p. 507. Author: Robert B. Shaw; Robert D. Webster; Christine M. Bern;.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Eriochloa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae
Sibling taxa
E. acuminata, E. aristata, E. contracta, E. fatmensis, E. lemmonii, E. michauxii, E. polystachya, E. pseudoacrotricha, E. punctata, E. sericea
Subordinate taxa
E. acuminata, E. aristata, E. contracta, E. fatmensis, E. lemmonii, E. michauxii, E. polystachya, E. pseudoacrotricha, E. punctata, E. sericea, E. villosa
Synonyms Paspalum villosum
Name authority (Thunb.) Kunth Kunth
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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