Eragrostis atropioides flowers

Weeping Lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula)

Little Lovegrass (Eragrostis minor)

Eragrostis variabilis

Eragrostis (lovegrass)^[2] is genus of the Poaceae (grass family) and the namesake of the tribe Eragrostideae. It would remain therein as long as this group remains valid after revision of the Chloridoideae, even if other genera presently placed in the Eragrostideae are moved elsewhere. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek words ερως (eros), meaning "love," and αγρωστις (agrostis), meaning "grass."^[3]

Some are dispersed by passing animals; the grains' hooks latch on to fur or hair, or to clothes. Others are wind or gravity dispersed. Several herbivores feed on lovegrass, be it invertebrates – e.g. Lepidoptera caterpillars such as those of the Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) – or vertebrates, such as the extinct Bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus). The dense bunches of these grasses also provide cover for small animals such as the rare Botteri's Sparrow (Aimophila botterii); lovegrasses may be ground cover of key importance on oceanic islands like Laysan, where other plants are rare.

They can be used as livestock fodder, the seeds appear to be of extremely high nutritional value at least in some species, but they are also extremely tiny and collecting them for food is cumbersome and not usually done. A notable exception is Teff (E. tef), used to make most of the traditional breads of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopian injera and Somalian laxoox, and grown as a crop of commercial importance. E. clelandii and E. tremula are recorded as famine foods in Australia and Chad, respectively.^[4]

Other species, e.g. E. amabilis, are used as ornamental plants. E. cynosuroides is used in the pūjā rites in the Hindu temple at Karighatta. Bahia Lovegrass (E. bahiensis) is known as a hyperaccumulator of Caesium-137 and can be grown to remove these highly toxic and radioactive atoms from the environment. Weeping lovegrass (E. curvula) has been planted extensively to combat soil erosion.

Selected species

Formerly placed here

• Briza uniolae (Nees) Steud. (as E. uniolae Nees)
• Coelachyrum piercei (Benth.) Bor (as E. piercei Benth.)
• Coelachyrum yemenicum (Schweinf.) S.M.Phillips (as E. yemenica Schweinf.)
• Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf (as E. cynosuriodes (Retz.) P.Beauv.)
• Eragrostiella brachyphylla (Stapf) Bor (as E. brachyphylla Stapf)
• Harpachne schimperi Hochst. ex A.Rich. (as E. schimperi (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Benth.)
• Leptochloa decipiens subsp. asthenes (Roem. & Schult.) N.Snow (as E. ciliolata Jedwabn.)
• Poa fendleriana subsp. fendleriana (as E. fendleriana Steud.)^[5]

References