Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations. Culms
30-100 cm, erect to geniculate, with narrow, sunken glandular bands. Sheaths
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. Panicles 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.
Spikelets 2-5 mm long, 2-3.5 mm wide, broadly ovate, greenish, stramineous
to plumbeous, with 7-14 florets; disarticulation basipetal, glumes persistent.
Glumes 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. Caryopses 0.8-1.1 mm, ellipsoid, reddish-brown.
2n
= 30.
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 Georges County, Maryland.
FNA 2003, Gould 1980
Common Name: African lovegrass Duration: Perennial Nativity: Non-Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Perennial bunchgrass with erect to geniculate stems 30-100 cm, with narrow, sunken glandular bands. Vegetative: Sheaths sometimes glandular; sheath apices hairy, the hairs to 5 mm; ligules 0.4-1 mm; blades 5-21 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat to involute with small glands on keels and veins, sparsely pilose on the upper surface. Inflorescence: Panicles 4-19 cm long, 1-7 cm wide, oblong to ovate, spikelets clustered in 1-sided groups, primary branches 0.5-7.5 cm, diverging 10-90 degrees from the rachises, angled, sinuous, glandular; pulvini hairy, hairs to 2 mm, pedicels 0.5-2 mm, stout, erect; spikelets 2-5 mm long, 2-3.5 mm wide, broadly ovate, greenish, stramineous with 7-14 florets that disarticulate from the apex toward the base; persistent glumes subequal, 1.5-2.5 mm, ovate, membranous with acute apices, lemmas 1.5-2.5 mm, broadly ovate to orbicular, keels with small glands, paleas 1.5-2.5 mm, each side with a broad wing at the base, projecting beyond the lemma bases; caryopsis ellipsoid, reddish brown. Ecology: Found in gravel soils, often in disturbed areas from 2,000-3,500 ft (610-1067 m); flowers June-October. Distribution: Native to s Africa; naturalized in s AZ. Notes: Eragrostis species have branched inflorescences (panicles), multiple, bisexual flowers (florets) per spikelet and components of the spikelets are for the most part hairless and awnless. E. echinochloidea a perennial bunchgrass, distinctive with its short, wide, roundish spikelets clustered in one sided groups, with many spikelets on each branch. The spikelets are much shorter in length than the similar E. superba. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Eragrostis is from Greek eros, love and agrostis, grass; echinochloidea refers to the plant-s resemblance to taxa in the genus Echinochloa. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015