Eragrostis spicata

Vasey
Common names: Spike lovegrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25.

Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes. Culms 75-100 cm, erect, glabrous. Sheaths hirtellous on the margins when immature, apices glabrous or hairy shorter than 0.5 mm; ligules 0.2-0.3 mm; blades 20-40 cm long, 2-5 (6) mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially. Panicles 22-40 cm long, 0.3-0.6 cm wide, spikelike, dense; primary branches shorter than 1.2 cm, closely appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base; pulvini glabrous; pedicels 0.1-0.6 mm, mostly appressed, hirtellous. Spikelets 1.4-2.2 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, ovate, stramineous to light greenish, with 2-3 florets; disarticulation basipetal, in the rachilla below the individual florets or at the base of the florets, glumes persistent. Glumes elliptic to ovate, hyaline, keels ciliolate; lower glumes 0.7-1 mm; upper glumes 0.9-1.3 mm, apices obtuse; lemmas 1.5-2.1 mm, ovate, membranous to hyaline, apices acute to obtuse; paleas 1.1-1.6 mm, hyaline, not wider than the lemmas, apices obtuse; anthers 2, 0.3-0.4 mm, reddish-brown. Caryopses 0.7-1 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat ventrally flattened, smooth to faintly striate, reddish-brown. 2n = 40.

Discussion

Eragrostis spicata grows in moist areas in prairies, usually in deep, sandy, clay loam soils, at 0-70 m. It is native from southern Texas to Mexico and in Paraguay and Argentina. In North America, it grows with Andropogon, Quercus stellata, Prosopsis glandulosa, and Acacia.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Eragrostis spicata"
reddish-brown +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br />) +
hairy +  and glabrous +
obtuse +  and acute +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (?) +
Paul M. Peterson +
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 +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br />) +
flat +  and involute +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
not disarticulating +
not spikelike +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
reddish-brown +
flattened +  and ellipsoid +
0.07 cm0.7 mm <br />7.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Spike lovegrass +
branched +, simple +  and rooting +
geniculate +
75 cm750 mm <br />0.75 m <br /> (100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br />) +
not woody +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
2 +  and 3 +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
persistent +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
elliptic +  and ovate +
uncinate +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
(1)3(5)-veined +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.21 cm2.1 mm <br />0.0021 m <br />) +
membranous +
sometimes longer +
ciliate +  and ciliolate +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
0.07 cm0.7 mm <br />7.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
persistent +
2-keeled +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br />) +
not wider +
open +  and simple +
22cm +  and 40cm +
spikelike +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br /> (0.06 cm0.6 mm <br />6.0e-4 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br /> (?) +
spikelike +
stramineous +  and light greenish +
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br />) +
1 +  and 60 +
0.9mm +  and 1.2mm +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Eragrostis spicata +
Eragrostis +
species +
membranous +
0.09 cm0.9 mm <br />9.0e-4 m <br /> (0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br />) +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
rhizomatous +  and stoloniferous +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +  and synoecious +