Eragrostis mexicana (Hornem.) Link subsp. mexicana
Mexican lovegrass
Poaceae (Grass family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

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Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Eragrostis mexicana subsp. mexicana
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Species Information

General:
Annual, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems erect to decumbent, sometimes bent, 10-130 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth, sometimes with craterlike glands, pimply and hairy near the summit collars, the hairs up to 5 mm long; blades 5-25 cm long, (2) 3-7 (9) mm wide, flat, rough above, occasionally hairy near base, glabrous below; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm long, fringed.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an egg-shaped panicle (5) 10-40 cm long, (2) 4-18 cm wide, open to somewhat congested when immature, rachis angled and channeled; branches 3-12 (15) cm long, spreading 0-80degreefrom culm axis, solitary to whorled; secondary branches somewhat appressed; pedicels 1-6 (7) mm long, somewhat appressed, stiff; spikelets (4) 5-10 (11) mm long, 0.7-2.4 mm wide, 5- to 11- (15-) flowered, egg-shaped to linear, greyish-green to purplish; disarticulation of glumes first, then lemmas, paleas persistent; glumes 0.7-2 (2.3) mm long, subequal, egg-shaped to lanceolate, membranous; lemmas 1.2-2.4 mm long, egg-shaped, membranous, smooth or with a few hairs, greyish-green, tips sharp-pointed, lateral veins evident, often greenish; palea 1-2.2 mm long, papery, tips rounded to blunt; stamens 3; anthers 0.2-0.5 mm long, purplish; caryopses 0.5-0.8 (1) mm long, egg-shaped to rectangular-prismatic, one or both ends blunt, laterally compressed, shallow to deeply grooved on the upper surface (opposite the embryo), reddish-brown.
Notes:
Recently, the species has been separated into two distinct subspecies.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat and Range

Moist to dry roadsides, waste areas and ditches in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent in S BC; introduced from the SW U.S.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia