6. Eragrostis elliottii S. Watson (Elliott love grass)

Pl. 148 f–h; Map 594

Plants perennial, forming tufts. Flowering stems 25–70 cm long, erect to spreading, glabrous. Leaf sheaths with a tuft or line of hairs at the tip, otherwise glabrous, the ligule 01.–0.4 mm long. Leaf blades 2–25 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, flat or with the margins inrolled, hairy at the base and sometimes roughened on the upper surface. Inflorescences open, broad panicles 25–50 cm long, usually broadly ovate in outline, the branches slender, loosely ascending to stiffly spreading, the axis and branches strongly roughened and often with short tufts of hair in the axils of the main branches. Spikelets 4.5–18.0 mm long, 1.5–3.0 mm wide, with slender, fragile (not stiff), long stalks, spreading from the branches, with 6–30 perfect florets. Pattern of disarticulation with the glumes and joints of the rachilla usually shed eventually after the lemmas, paleas, and fruits have been shed. Lower glume 1.2–2.4 mm long, narrowly ovate, usually somewhat roughened along the midnerve. Upper glume 1.6–3.4 mm long, ovate, usually somewhat roughened along the midnerve. Lemmas 1.8–4.4 mm long, ovate, sharply pointed at the tip, keeled, the lateral nerves relatively conspicuous, sometimes slightly roughened along the midnerve. Anthers 0.3–0.5 mm long. Fruits 0.7–1.0 mm long, elliptic‑ovate in outline, somewhat flattened, brown. July–October.

Introduced, known only from St. Louis (southeastern U.S. west to Arkansas and Texas, mostly on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains; Mexico, Caribbean Islands). Railroads.

This species was reported by Mühlenbach (1979), based on a single specimen collected in the St. Louis railroad yards.