Eragrostis intermedia

Hitchc.
Common names: Plains lovegrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 97.

Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Culms (30) 40-90 (110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes. Sheaths sparsely pilose on the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 8 mm, not papillose-based; ligules 0.2-0.4 mm; blades (4) 10-20 (30) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind the ligules, elsewhere usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hairy. Panicles 15-40 cm long, (8.5) 15-30 cm wide, ovate, open; primary branches 4-25 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary; pulvini hairy or glabrous; pedicels 2-14 mm, divergent. Spikelets 3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3) 5-11 florets; disarticulation acropetal, paleas persistent. Glumes lanceolate to ovate, hyaline to membranous; lower glumes 1.1-1.7 mm, narrower than the upper glumes; upper glumes 1.3-2 mm, apices acuminate to acute; lemmas 1.6-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous, hyaline near the margins, lateral-veins inconspicuous, apices acute; paleas 1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute; anthers 3, 0.5-0.8 mm, purplish. Caryopses 0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown. 2n = ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.

Distribution

Maine, Va., Kans., Okla., Mass., Miss., Tex., La., Calif., Ala., Tenn., N.C., S.C., Ark., Ga., Ariz., N.Mex., Fla., Mo.

Discussion

Eragrostis intermedia grows in clay, sandy, and rocky soils, often in disturbed sites, at 0-1850 m. Its range extends from the United States through Mexico and Central America to South America. Eragrostis intermedia is similar to the more widespread E. lugens, but differs from that species in having wider spikelets, longer lemmas, and caryopses with a prominent adaxial groove.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Eragrostis intermedia"
120 +, 100 +, 80 +, 74 +, 72 +, 60 +  and 54 +
hairy +  and glabrous +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br />) +
obtuse +  and acute +
Paul M. Peterson +
Hitchc. +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
multiple +, , +  and single +
not +  and glabrous +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
involute +  and flat +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
not disarticulating +
not spikelike +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
reddish-brown +  and opaque +
compressed +  and rectangular-prismatic +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.09 cm0.9 mm <br />9.0e-4 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Plains lovegrass +
branched +, simple +  and rooting +
geniculate +
40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br /> (90 cm900 mm <br />0.9 m <br />) +
not woody +
Maine +, Va. +, Kans. +, Okla. +, Mass. +, Miss. +, Tex. +, La. +, Calif. +, Ala. +, Tenn. +, N.C. +, S.C. +, Ark. +, Ga. +, Ariz. +, N.Mex. +, Fla. +  and Mo. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
5 +  and 11 +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
persistent +  and deciduous +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
lanceolate +  and ovate +
membranous +
not papillose-based +
uncinate +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
(1)3(5)-veined +
0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br /> (0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br />) +
membranous +
sometimes longer +
ciliate +  and ciliolate +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.17 cm1.7 mm <br />0.0017 m <br />) +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
persistent +
2-keeled +
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
narrower +
15cm +  and 40cm +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1.4 cm14 mm <br />0.014 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br />) +
glabrous +  and hairy +
spikelike +
olivaceous +  and purplish +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
1 +  and 60 +
lanceolate +
1mm +  and 1.8mm +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Eragrostis intermedia +
Eragrostis +
species +
membranous +
0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
rhizomatous +  and stoloniferous +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +  and synoecious +