Small Love Grass

Nile region, oases and Sinai.

Subtropical and warm temperate Old World.

Damp soils.

Annual.

Eragrostis minor intergrades with Eragrostis cilianensis, being distinguished by the narrower oblong (rather than ovate) spikelets, shorter lemmas, more open panicle and oblong (rather than globose) grain. No single character can be relied upon to separate the species. For the present purpose, however, grain shape has been taken as decisive in doubtful cases. The characteristic glands are occasionally absent from the leaves giving rise to confusion with Eragrostis nutans (Retz.) Steud. (a perennial) which has not yet been recorded from Pakistan. A diligent search will usually reveal at least a few glands on the panicle branches and pedicels. Annual plants completely devoid of these crateriform glands (although glandular dots are present on the panicle branches) and without the beard at the mouth of the sheath have been separated as Eragrostis rottleri Stapf, a little known species collected only from Madras over 100 years ago. R.R. Stewart 26345 from Gilgit (K) almost matches the type of Eragrostis rottleri. It is better at this stage, however, not to admit Eragrostis rottleri to the Flora of Pakistan on the basis of a single specimen that resembles a species represented by only two or three previous collections. Much more good material must be collected before the true status of Eragrostis rottleri can be determined.

Certain specimens (cf. J.J. Norris 37, 159) with longer spikelets, slightly narrower, less obtuse lemmas, more densely tuberculate-ciliate sheaths and an apparent lack of the characteristic warty glands have been separated as Eragrostis pappiana (Chiov.) Chiov. Examination of Asian, European and African specimens has shown that Eragrostis minor and Eragrostis pappiana intergrade in all respects and no satisfactory way of distinguishing them has been found. Clayton (in Fl. Trop. E. Afr. 234. 1974) has united the two species and for the present this seems the most appropriate course to be adopted in Pakistan.

In view of Ross’s argument that Eragrostis was validly published by Wolf, the more familiar name for this species, Eragrostis poaeoides P. Beauv. is predated by Eragrostis minor which, for now, must be regarded as the correct name.

Little Lovegrass has no known economic value. It occurs as a weed in gardens, irrigated fields and ditches.

Annual. Culms slender, caespitose, decumbent at base, smooth and glabrous, 20–60 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous, along veins with many glands, pilose along summit; ligules a ring of hairs; blades linear, flat, glabrous, with many glands. Panicle lax; branches slender, solitary or 2(–3) per node, glabrous in axils. Spikelet rather pale, 4–11 × 1.5–2(–2.5) mm, (5–)10–20-flowered. Glumes slightly shorter than florets, lower glume shorter than upper glume. Lemmas broadly ovate, eglandular along keel, lower lemma 1.5–2 mm. Palea slightly shorter than its lemma, curved, along keels ciliate, persistent. Stamens 3; anthers 0.2–0.3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Sep.

Loosely tufted annual; culms 6-60 cm high, ascending. Leaf-blades flat, up to 12 cm long and 5 mm wide, mostly glabrous and usually with a row of warty glands along the margin. Panicle ovate, 4-20 cm long, fairly dense to open, stiffly branched with short pedicels (lateral pedicels 1-3 mm), usually with glands on pedicels and branchlets. Spikelets 6-16(40)-flowered, narrowly oblong or almost linear, 3-9(15) mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide, yellowish green, leaden grey or purplish, breaking up from the base; glumes subequal, ovate, boat-shaped, 1-1.7 mm long, 1-3-nerved, often glandular on the keel, acute; lemmas broadly ovate to subrotund, 1.5-2 mm long, chartaceous, often glandular on the keel, the lateral nerves distinct, obtuse; palea ± scabrid on the keels, persistent; anthers 3, 0.3 mm long. Caryopsis broadly oblong, 0.7-0.8 mm long, dark brown.

Annual. Culms slender, tufted, erect or geniculate at base, (5–)15–50(–80) cm tall, 1–2 mm in diam., 3–4-noded, below each node usually a line of glands. Leaf sheaths usually shorter than internodes, along summit and margin with long silky hairs, along veins glandular especially in middle vein or tuberulate hispidulous; ligules a line of hairs; leaf blades flat or involute, 3–15 × 0.2–0.4 cm, adaxial surface scabrous and pilose, abaxial surface glabrous, along middle vein and margins with glands in row. Panicle open, 6–15 × 3–6 cm; branch solitary, ascending or spreading. Spikelets green or dark green, oblong, 3–8 × 1.5–2 mm, 3–16-flowered, with glandular pedicels 3–6 mm. Glumes chartaceous, lanceolate, 1-veined, glandular along veins, lower glume ca. 1.6 mm, upper glume ca. 1.8 mm. Lemma ovate, apex obtuse, lateral veins nearly parallel, midrib glandular, lower lemma 1.5–2 mm. Palea subequal to its lemma, persistent, 2-keeled, along keels ciliolate or scabrous. Stamens 2 or 3; anthers 0.2–0.3 mm. Caryopsis red-brown, oblong or globose, ca. 0.5 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 40.

Culm erect, tufted. Blade linear-lanceolate, 3-5 cm long by 2 mm wide, margins with glands in a row along each side, blades surface, sheath-mouth and margins covered with long silky hairs. Inflorescence an open panicle, about 7 cm long by 3 cm wide. Spikelets usually 11-flowered, about 6 mm long by 2 mm wide; glumes chartaceous, lanceolate, 1-nerved, glandular along backside of nerves; the lower glume about 1.3 mm long, shorter than the upper; lemma about 1.7 mm long, chartaceous, ovate, 3-nerved, lateral nerves nearly parallel, midnerve glandular on dorsal side; palea chartaceous, as long as the lemma, upper 2/3 elliptical and lower 1/2 linear, 2-keeled, scabrous along keels. Caryopsis oblong, about 0.6 mm long, reticulate; embryo 1/2-2/3 the length of the caryopsis.

Widely distributed in India, China and extending to temperate regions and the Mediterranean area.

Mediterranean region, tropical Africa, Himalaya, India, N. Asia.

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Old World; occasionally found as an introduction in the tropics and the New World.

3600 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: May-September.

Roadsides, streams, fields. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan; E Europe].

Mountain slopes, grasslands, roadsides. Anhui, Beijing, Fujian, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of the world].

Poa eragrostis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 68. 1753; Eragrostis minor var. minima B. S. Sun & S. Wang; E. poaeoides P. Beauvois, nom illeg. superfl.

Eragrostis poaeoides Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 162. 1812; Hsu, Fl. Taiwan 5: 488. 1978; Koyama, Grass. Jap. Neighb. Reg. 250. 1987.
Poa eragrostis L. Sp. Pl. 68. 1753.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Plants viscid, sticky, glandular-hairy, Stem internodes solid or spongy, St em internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally comp ressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longi tudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.