Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) R.Br.

Distribution

Biogeografic region: Andean, Guiana Shield, Caribbean, Orinoquia, Pacific. Elevation range: 0–1500 m a.s.l. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Arauca, Atlántico, Bolívar, Casanare, Cesar, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, San Andrés y Providencia, Santander, Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Vichada.

Habit

Herb.

Ecology

Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.

George R. Proctor (2012). Flora of the Cayman Isands (Second Edition). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Morphology General Habit

Small tufted annual seldom taller than 20 cm

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-blades averaging 6 cm long, 5 mm broad, glabrous except for a tuft of long hairs (3 mm long) just above the junction with the sheath; sheath glabrous except for a ring of hairs on the back just below where the 3 mm hairs occur; basal sheath purplish, ligule reduced to a trace

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence a ragged spike-like panicle averaging 7 cm long

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 8-flowered; cilia of the paleas with a characteristic comb-like appearance when viewed through a hand-lens.

Distribution

Grand Cayman, little Cayman, Cayman Brac. Pantropical.

Ecology

A pantropical weed.

Gramineae, T. Cope. Flora Zambesiaca 10:2. 1999

Morphology General Habit

Loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 60(75) cm tall, erect or ascending, usually unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaf sheaths eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 5–20 cm × 1–3(5) mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous or with scattered long silky hairs, scaberulous, somewhat firm.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle 4–20 cm long, woolly, narrow and spike-like but often lobed and interrupted, the spikelets densely clustered on pedicels 2–4 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, eglandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 2–4.5 × c. 2 mm, ovate, strongly laterally compressed, 6–12-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 0.7–1.4 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly lanceolate or narrowly oblong-lanceolate in profile, scabrid on the keel, acute at the apex; lemmas 0.9–1.5 mm long, keeled, oblong-elliptic in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, widely diverging from the rhachilla (greater than 45°), those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, with a few short stiff hairs on the keel below (most apparent in the uppermost lemmas), otherwise smooth, broadly obtuse and ± obscurely mucronate at the apex; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, tuberculate-ciliate with hairs 0.6–0.7 mm long; anthers 2, 0.2–0.4 mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis 0.3–0.5 mm long, elliptic.

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution

Naturalizada y adventicia en Colombia; Alt. 0 - 1500 m.; Andes, Guayana y Serranía de La Macarena, Islas Caribeñas, Llanura del Caribe, Orinoquia, Pacífico, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Valle del Cauca, Valle del Magdalena.

Morphology General Habit

Hierba

Conservation

No Evaluada

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton, S. M. Phillips & S. A. Renvoize. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1974

Morphology General Habit

Tufted annual; culms 5–60 cm. high, erect.

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-blades flat, up to 12 cm. long and 5 mm. wide.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle spike-like, but often ± lobed or interrupted, 1–20 cm. long, woolly, the spikelets densely clustered.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 6–12-flowered, ovate, 2–4.5 mm. long, fluffy, often purplish, breaking up from the apex, the rhachilla fragile; glumes lanceolate, subequal, 0.7–1.2 mm. long, acute; lemmas oblong-elliptic, 0.9–1.5 mm. long, the keels (at least in the upper lemmas) bearing a few short stiff hairs, otherwise smooth, broadly obtuse, ± obscurely mucronate; palea-keels tuberculate-ciliate, the hairs 0.6–0.7 mm. long, exceeding the width of the adjacent floret; anthers 2, 0.2 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis ellipsoid, 0.3–0.5 mm. long.

Figures

Fig. 60/2, p. 190.

Habitat

Farmland, clearings and in overgrazed, trodden or weedy places; sea-level to 1400 m., or sometimes more

Distribution

tropical and South Africa, extending through Arabia and the Mascarene Is. to Indiatropical America K1 K2 K4 K5 K7 P T1 T2 T3 T4 T6 T7 T8 U1

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit

Annual up to 50 cm high; leaves flat

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle 1–12.5 cm long, contracted, spike-like or lobed and interrupted

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets oblong-elliptic to ovate, 2–3.5 mm long, 6- to 12-flowered, the florets loose and divergent, covered by the spreading palea-hairs, disarticulating between the florets, the rhachilla fragile; glumes equal, lanceolate, 0.9–1 mm long; lemmas oblong in profile, thinly membranous, 0.9–1.5 mm long, with a few pectinate hairs on the lower part of the keel at least in the upper lemmas, broadly obtuse, mucronate; palea-keels pectinate-ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.4–0.8 mm long; anthers 2, 0.1–0.2 mm long.

Distribution

N1–3; C1; S1–3 throughout the tropics.

Ecology

Altitude range 0–1200 m.

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:2. 1972

Morphology General Habit

Annual 15–60 cm. high

Ecology

A common weed of roadsides, cultivated land and waste places.

Morphology General Habit

Annual; caespitose. Culms erect; 5-60 cm long. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades 2-12 cm long; 1-5 mm wide.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence a panicle. Panicle spiciform; linear, or oblong; continuous, or interrupted; 1-20 cm long. Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets comprising 6-12 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets ovate; laterally compressed; 2-4.5 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.

Fertile

Spikelets comprising 6-12 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets ovate; laterally compressed; 2-4.5 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Glume

Glumes deciduous; similar; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume lanceolate; 0.7-1.2 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume lanceolate; 0.7-1.2 mm long; 0.7-0.8 length of adjacent fertile lemma; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets

Fertile lemma elliptic, or oblong; 0.9-1.5 mm long; membranous; keeled; 3 -veined. Lemma midvein ciliolate (at least a few hairs on upper lemmas). Lemma apex obtuse; muticous, or mucronate (obscurely). Palea keels tuberculate; ciliate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Anthers 2; 0.2 mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; ellipsoid; 0.3-0.5 mm long.

Distribution

Africa: north, Macaronesia, west tropical, west-central tropical, northeast tropical, east tropical, southern tropical, south, and western Indian ocean. Asia-temperate: western Asia, Arabia, and eastern Asia. Asia-tropical: India. Pacific: southwestern, northwestern, and north-central. North America: south-central USA, southeast USA, and Mexico. South America: Mesoamericana, Caribbean, northern South America, western South America, Brazil, and southern South America.

Reference

Eragrostideae. FTEA.

Diagnostic

Palea hairs 0.6-0.7mm, more than width of floret.

Morphology General Habit

Annual; caespitose. Culms erect; 20-40 cm long. Lateral branches sparse. Leaf-sheaths mostly shorter than adjacent culm internode; outer margin hairy. Leaf-sheath oral hairs ciliate. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades flat, or convolute; 3-8 cm long; 1.5-5 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface pilose; sparsely hairy; hairy on both sides. Leaf-blade apex acuminate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence a panicle. Panicle spiciform; oblong; continuous, or interrupted; 3-9 cm long; 1-2.5 cm wide. Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets comprising 11-18 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets oblong; laterally compressed; 5-6 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.

Fertile

Spikelets comprising 11-18 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets oblong; laterally compressed; 5-6 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Glume

Glumes deciduous; similar; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume ovate; 1 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume ovate; 1 mm long; 0.9-1 length of adjacent fertile lemma; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets

Fertile lemma ovate; 1-1.2 mm long; membranous; keeled; 3 -veined. Lemma apex obtuse. Palea keels ciliate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis with adherent pericarp.

Distribution

South America: northern South America.

Reference

Eragrostideae. Luces 2002.