Eragrostis superba

Peyr.
Common names: Sawtooth lovegrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 87.

Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without glands. Culms 45-95 cm, erect, glabrous. Sheaths hairy at the apices and on the margins, hairs to 6 mm; ligules 0.5-1.2 mm; blades 7-30 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabrous adaxially, margins sharply scabrous. Panicles 10-30 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, oblong, condensed, interrupted below; primary branches 1-11 cm, appressed or diverging to 40° from the rachises, naked basally; pulvini glabrous; pedicels 0.5-25 mm, with a narrow band or abscission line below the apices. Spikelets 5.5-16 mm long, 2.7-9 mm wide, ovate, flattened, greenish to stramineous, some¬times with a reddish-purple tinge, with 4-22 florets; disarticulation below the glumes, spikelets falling intact. Glumes equal, 3-4.5 mm, ovate, chartaceous; lemmas 3-5 mm, broadly lanceolate, chartaceous to leathery, lateral-veins green, apices acute; paleas 3-5 mm, chartaceous to hyaline, keels broadly winged below, forming a wing or tooth on each side that often projects beyond the lemma bases, apices acuminate; anthers 3, 1.4-2.8 mm, golden-yellow. Caryopses 1-2 mm, ellipsoid, adaxial surfaces flattened, reddish-brown. 2n = 40.

Distribution

Calif., Ariz., Pacific Islands (Hawaii), N.Mex., Tex.

Discussion

Eragrostis superba is native to Africa, where it is grown for hay, being fairly palatable and drought resistant. It is also used for erosion control and revegetation. In the Flora region, it grows on rocky slopes, in sandy flats, and along roadsides, at 480-1650 m, often with Acacia, Prosopsis, Fouquieria splendens, Juniperus, and Quercus. The English name is an appropriate description of the leaf blades.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Eragrostis superba"
golden-yellow +
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.28 cm2.8 mm <br />0.0028 m <br />) +
acuminate +  and acute +
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 +
7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
flat +  and loosely involute +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
not disarticulating +
not spikelike +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Sawtooth lovegrass +
branched +, simple +  and rooting +
geniculate +
45 cm450 mm <br />0.45 m <br /> (95 cm950 mm <br />0.95 m <br />) +
not woody +
Calif. +, Ariz. +, Pacific Islands (Hawaii) +, N.Mex. +  and Tex. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
4 +  and 22 +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
persistent +  and deciduous +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br />) +
uncinate +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
(1)3(5)-veined +
lanceolate +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
chartaceous +  and leathery +
sometimes longer +
ciliate +  and ciliolate +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br />) +
membranous +
abscission +
inconspicuous +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
persistent +
2-keeled +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
interrupted +  and condensed +
10cm +  and 30cm +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
diverging;appressed +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br />) +
spikelike +
greenish +  and stramineous +
0.55 cm5.5 mm <br />0.0055 m <br /> (1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br />) +
1 +  and 60 +
flattened +  and ovate +
2.7mm +  and 9mm +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Eragrostis superba +
Eragrostis +
species +
membranous +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
rhizomatous +  and stoloniferous +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +  and synoecious +