Eragrostis pilosa (L.) P.Beauv. var. pilosa

pilose lovegrass, jersey lovegrass


Info

Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Genus etymology: Eragrostis = "love grass" [Greek] unclear origin, other etymologies such as "early grass" or "very grass" have also been speculated
Species etymology: pilosa = "pilose" [Latin] refering to the hairs found at the collars and base of the inflorescenc branches
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1937

Map

 Distribution of Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa in Hawaiʻi.
 Distribution of Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Inflorescence

Plant

Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Plant
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Plant
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Plant
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Plant

Habit

Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Habit
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Habit
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Habit

Spikelets

Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets
Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Spikelets

Collar

Eragrostis pilosa var. pilosa Collar

Description

Loosely tufted annual; culms 8–70 cm. high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades flat, 2–20 cm. long, 1–4 mm. wide. Panicle elliptic to ovate, 4–25 cm. long, open, the lowest branches whorled (except in the smallest panicles) and nearly always with a few long white hairs in the axil. Spikelets 4–14-flowered, linear, 3–7 mm. long, 0.7–1.2 mm. wide, purplish green, the florets ± appressed to the rhachilla, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes hyaline, unequal, the lower a narrowly ovate nerveless scale 0.5–0.7 mm. long, the upper ovate, 1 mm. long, with a single, often indistinct, nerve; lemmas broadly ovate, 1–1.6 mm. long, obtuse to subacute; palea falling soon after the lemma (usually persistent in temperate regions), the keels scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm. long. Caryopsis ellipsoid with one side straight, 0.6–1 mm. long, somewhat laterally compressed. Fig. 61/1, p. 193.
(Description source: Clayton, W.D. 1970. Flora of Tropical East Africa. Gramineae (Part 1). Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London. 176 pp. )

Loosely caespitose annual, culms up to 70 cm tall, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, glandular or eglandular; leaf sheaths glabrous; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 2–20 cm × 1–4 mm, linear, flat, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 4–25 cm long, elliptic or ovate, open, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 2–6 mm long, the lowermost primary branches in a whorl (except in smaller specimens), the remainder not so, terminating in a fertile spikelet, thinly long-pilose in the axils (especially, and sometimes only, in the whorled branches), eglandular or sometimes with scattered crateriform glands.Spikelets 3–7 × 0.7–1.2 mm, linear, lightly laterally compressed, 4–14-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes very unequal, the inferior 0.5–0.7 mm long, reaching to c. 1/5 the way along the adjacent lemma, keeled, lanceolate in profile, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; the superior 0.7–1 mm long, reaching to c. 1/4 the way along the adjacent lemma, keeled, narrowly ovate in profile, glabrous, subacute at the apex; lemmas 1–1.6(1.8) mm long, keeled, narrowly ovate in profile, thinly membranous with distinct lateral nerves, appressed to the rhachilla but those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate and the rhachilla ± visible between them, purplish-green, glabrous, subacute to obtuse at the apex; palea deciduous soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm long.Caryopsis 0.6–1 mm long, elliptic but with one side straight, somewhat laterally compressed.
(Description source: Pope, G.V. (ed). 1999. Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 10. Part 2. Kew, London. 261 pp. )

Plants annual; tufted, without innovations. Culms 8-45(70) cm, erect or geniculate, glabrous, occasionally with a few glandular depressions. Sheaths mostly glabrous, occasionally glandular, apices hirsute, hairs to 3 mm; ligules 0.1-0.3 mm, ciliate; blades 2-15(20) cm long, 1-2.5(4) mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, occasionally with glandular pits along the midrib, adaxial surfaces scabridulous. Panicles 4-20(28) cm long, 2-15(18) cm wide, ellipsoid to ovoid, diffuse; primary branches 1-10 cm, diverging 10-80°(110°) from the rachises, capillary, whorled on the lowest 2 nodes, rarely glandular; pulvini glabrous or hairy; pedicels 1-10 mm, flexible, appressed or divergent. Spikelets (2)3.5-6(10) mm long, 0.6-1.4 mm wide, linear-oblong to narrowly ovate, plumbeous, with (3)5-17 florets; disarticulation acropetal, paleas tardily deciduous, rachillas persisting longer than the paleas. Glumes narrowly ovate to lanceolate, hyaline; lower glumes 0.3-0.6(0.8) mm; upper glumes 0.7-1.2(1.4) mm; lemmas 1.2-1.8(2) mm, ovate-lanceolate, membranous to hyaline, grayish-green proximally, reddish-purple distally, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute; paleas 1-1.6 mm, membranous to hyaline, keels scabridulous to scabrous, apices obtuse; anthers 3, 0.2-0.3 mm, purplish. Caryopses 0.5-1 mm, obovoid to prism-shaped, adaxial surfaces flat, smooth to faintly striate, light brown. 2n = 40.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp. http://floranorthamerica.org/Eragrostis_pilosa )