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Eragrostis curvula

(African Love Grass)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Oulandsgras

Common Names in Croatian:

Kosmatka Africka

Common Names in English:

African Love Grass, African Lovegrass, Boer Love Grass, Weeping Love Grass, Weeping Lovegrass

Common Names in French:

éragrostide Courbée

Common Names in German:

Gekrümmtes Liebesgras

Common Names in Italian:

Eragrostide Curvula

Common Names in Japanese:

Shinadare Suzume Gaya, Wiipin Gurabu Gurasu

Common Names in Portuguese:

Capim-Chorão

Common Names in Spanish:

Pasto Ilorón (Latin America), Pasto Llorón, Pasto Llorón (Peru)

Common Names in Swedish:

Afrikanskt Kärleksgräs

Common Names in Turkish:

Salkim Yalaf

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Genus Eragrostis

Annual or perennial , often glandular particularly on the leaf sheaths and inflorescence. Leaf blades mostly flat, sometimes rolled, rarely pungent ; ligule a line of hairs or sometimes membranous. Inflorescence an open, contracted , spiciform or glomerate panicle, very rarely of racemes on a central axis. Spikelets 2- to many-flowered, laterally compressed , orbicular to vermiform , variously disarticulating . Glumes unequal, deciduous or persistent , 1(-3) -veined. Lemmas membranous to coriaceous , keeled or rounded , glabrous to asperulous or rarely hairy , 3-veined or the veins sometimes very faint and occasionally suppressed , apex entire, obtuse to acuminate, rarely mucronate . Palea keels sometimes winged or ciliate . Stamens 2 or 3. Fruit mostly globose , ellipsoid , or rectangular-prismatic, usually a caryopsis but sometimes the pericarp free .

About 350 species: tropics and subtropics throughout the world; 32 species (11 endemic, one introduced ) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Species Eragrostis curvula

Perennial . Culms densely tufted , erect , 80-120 cm tall, 5-6-noded. Leaf sheaths scabrous with retrorse hairs at lower part, glabrous upward, shorter than internodes, long pilose along the summit; leaf blades elongate , involute , attenuate to a fine point , arcuate spreading , scabrous, (5-) 10-40 cm × 1-2.5(-3) mm. Panicles open, 12-35 × 6-9 cm; branches solitary or in pairs, ascending , naked at base , at least the lower densely pilose in axils. Spikelets gray-green, (4-) 6-11 × 1.5-2 mm, 5-16-flowered. Glumes lanceolate, apex acuminate, 1-veined, lower glume 1.2-1.5 mm, upper glume 1.8-2.5 mm. Lemmas broadly oblong , apex acute or obtuse , veins prominent , lower lemma 2-2.5 mm. Palea subequal to lemma, 2-keeled, persistent or tardily deciduous. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 1.2 mm. Caryopsis ellipsoid to obovoid , dorsally compressed , adaxial surface with a shallow, broad groove or ungrooved, smooth , mostly translucent , light brown, 1-1.7 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Sep. 2n = 20, 42, 63, 80. [source]

Habit: Graminoid • Growth Form: Bunch • Shape and Orientation: Erect

Flowers: 2-3' stems are tipped with purple-black flower clustes that move in the slightest breeze. • Bloom Period: Late Spring • Flower Color: gray, green, silver • Flower Conspicuous: No

Seeds: Seed per Pound: 1482320 • Seed Spread Rate: Moderate • Seedling Vigor: High • Fruit/Seed Abundance: High • Fruit/Seed Color: Brown • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: No • Cold Stratification Required: No

Foliage: Foliage Color: Green • Summer foliage: Dark green, finely textured, hair-like foliage . • Fall foliage: Red. • Foliage Porosity Summer: Moderate • Foliage Porosity Winter: Porous • Foliage Texture: Medium • Fall Conspicuous: No • Leaf Retention: No

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Summer • Growth Rate: Rapid • After Harvest Regrowth Rate: Moderate • Mature Height (feet): 3.0 • Size: 24-36" tall. • Vegetative Spread Rate: None • Lifespan: Lifespan

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: Accent. Speciment. • Care: Tolerant of coastal conditions.

Habitat

Commonly cultivated for ornament[3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,212 meters (0 to 13,819 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: No • Propagated by Container: No • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: No • Propagated by Seed: Yes • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Summer • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 36-48" apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: Low • Salinity Tolerance: Low • CaCO3 Tolerance: High • Minimum pH: 4.5 • Maximum pH: 8.0 • Fertility Requirement: High

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun . • Shade Tolerance: Intolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High • Minimum Precipitation: 15 • Maximum Precipitation: 40 • Moisture Use: Medium

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): -3°F. • Minimum Frost Free Days: 180 • Cold Hardiness: 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Eragrostis chloromelas Steud.
  2. Eragrostis curvula var. conferta Stapf
  3. Poa curvula Schrader, Gött. Gel. Anz. 3: 2073. 1821.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Fl. Afr. austral . ill. 397. 1841

Name verified on 07-May-1992 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 20-Nov-2007

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Eragrostis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 908 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

E. abessinica · E. abortiva · E. abyssinica · E. acamptoclada · E. acicularis · E. acraea · E. acraea de · E. acuminata · E. acuta · E. acutiflora · E. acutiglumis · E. acutissima · E. adenocoleos · E. advena · E. aegiptioica · E. aegyptiaca · E. aegyptiaca subsp. humifusa · E. aethiopica · E. affinis · E. afghanica · E. agrostoidea · E. airoides (Darnel Love Grass) · E. airoides var. pluriflora · E. alba · E. albensis · E. albescens · E. albida · E. alopecuroides · E. alta · E. alveiformis · E. amabilis · E. amabilis f. albida · E. amabilis f. subfusca · E. amabilis f. varia · E. amabilis var. insularis · E. amanda · E. ambleia · E. ambohibengensis · E. amboinensis · E. amboinicea · E. ambositrensis · E. ambrensis · E. amherstiana · E. amoena · E. amurensis · E. anacrantha · E. anacranthoides · E. ancashensis · E. andicola · E. andongensis · E. angolensis · E. angusta · E. annulata · E. apiculata · E. aquatica · E. arabica · E. araiostachya · E. arenicola · E. argentina · E. arida · E. aristata · E. aristata de · E. aristiglumis · E. articulata · E. articulata var. glabrescens · E. arundinacea · E. aspera · E. astrepta · E. astreptoclada · E. atherstonei · E. atropioides (Hard-Stem Lovegrass) · E. atropurpurea · E. atrovirens (Thalia Love Grass) · E. atrovirens var. ramosa · E. atroviridis · E. attentuta · E. attenuata · E. aturensis · E. aulacosperma · E. aurea · E. auriculata · E. aurorae · E. australasica · E. australiensis · E. autumnalis · E. bagdadensis · E. baguirmiensis · E. bahamensis · E. bahiensis (Bahia Love Grass) · E. bahiensis var. bahiensis · E. bahiensis var. boliviensis · E. bahiensis var. contracta · E. barbata · E. barbeyi · E. barbinodis · E. barbulata · E. barrelieri (Mediterranean Love Grass) · E. barrelieri pygmaea · E. barrelieri subsp. pygmaea · E. barteri

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Shou-liang Chen & Paul M. Peterson "Eragrostis". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 458, 471, 479, 480. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Eragrostis curvula". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 472, 474. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 606.700 meters (1,990.486 feet), Standard Deviation = 599.640 based on 421 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009