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hairy cup grass, ériochloé velue

Caribbean cupgrass, caribgrass

Habit Plants annual. Plants perennial; cespitose, stoloniferous.
Culms

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

nodes and internodes pubescent.

100-200 cm, decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes;

internodes glabrous;

nodes 4-10, densely pilose.

Sheaths

sometimes inflated, glabrous or pubescent;

ligules 0.5-1 mm;

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

chartaceous to cartilaginous, lower sheaths with papillose-based hairs, upper sheaths glabrous;

collars hairy;

ligules 0.6-1.2 mm;

blades 6-28 cm long, 6-18 mm wide, linear, flat, straight, ascending or drooping, glabrous adaxially.

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.

8-20 cm long, 41-90 mm wide, open;

rachises sparsely pilose to hirsute;

branches (5)10-15(18), 2-6 cm long, 0.4-0.6 mm wide, pubescent to setose, not winged, spikelets in unequally pedicellate pairs;

pedicels 0.5-1 mm, pubescent, apices glabrous.

Spikelets

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

3.2-3.9 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, lanceolate to ovate.

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.

present as a membranous extension of the calluses;

upper glumes equaling the lower lemmas, hairy, lanceolate to ovate, 5-veined, acute, unawned;

lower lemmas 3-3.5 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, lanceolate to ovate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, 5-veined, acute, unawned;

lower paleas fully developed or absent;

anthers absent or 3;

upper lemmas 2.2-2.6 mm, indurate, elliptic, rounded, mucronate, mucros less than 0.2 mm;

upper paleas 2-2.5 mm, indurate.

2n

= 54.

= 36.

Eriochloa villosa

Eriochloa polystachya

Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; FL; IA; IL; KS; MN; MO; MS; NE; OR; PA; VA; WI
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; MS; TX; PR
[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 polystachya is native to the West Indies, Costa Rica, Honduras, and South America. It was introduced into the United States as a forage crop and is now established at some locations in Florida and Texas.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 509. FNA vol. 25, p. 515.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Eriochloa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Eriochloa
Sibling taxa
E. acuminata, E. aristata, E. contracta, E. fatmensis, E. lemmonii, E. michauxii, E. polystachya, E. pseudoacrotricha, E. punctata, E. sericea
E. acuminata, E. aristata, E. contracta, E. fatmensis, E. lemmonii, E. michauxii, E. pseudoacrotricha, E. punctata, E. sericea, E. villosa
Synonyms Paspalum villosum
Name authority (Thunb.) Kunth Kunth
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