Eragrostis erosa

Illustrator: Cindy Roché, Linda A. Vorobik

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular. Culms 70-110 cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes. Sheaths hairy at the apices and sometimes on the upper margins, hairs to 4 mm, not papillose-based; ligules 0.2-0.4 mm; blades (8)12-30 cm long, 1.5-3.8 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, glabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs to 4 mm. Panicles 25-45 cm long, (5)12-30 cm wide, broadly ovate, open; primary branches mostly 4-20 cm, diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary, sinuous; pulvini glabrous or hairy; pedicels 1-18 mm, appressed or divergent, proximal spikelets on each branch usually with pedicels shorter than 5 mm. Spikelets 5-9 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, lanceolate, plumbeous, with 5-12 florets; disarticulation acropetal, glumes first, then the lemmas, paleas persistent. Glumes lanceolate to ovate, membranous; lower glumes 1.3-2.4 mm; upper glumes 1.6-2.6 mm; lemmas 2.4-3 mm, ovate, mostly membranous, hyaline near the margins and apices, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute; paleas 1.5-3 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to truncate; anthers 3, 0.6-1.7 mm, purplish. Caryopses 0.8-1.6 mm, subellipsoid, terete to somewhat laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, faintly striate, opaque, reddish-brown. 2n = unknown.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

N.Mex., Tex.

Discussion

Eragrostis erosa grows on rocky slopes and hills, at 1200-2300 m, often in association with Pinus edulis, Juniperus monosperma, and Bouteloua gracilis. Its range extends from New Mexico and western Texas to northern Mexico.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.