Thalia Lovegrass

Eragrostis chariis (Schult.) Hitchc., a name often misapplied to Eragrostis atrovirens (e.g. Sultan & Stewart, Grasses W. Pak. 2:234) is a synonym of Eragrostis nutans (Retz.) Steud., a quite different species.

An extremely common grass forming an appreciable part of the fodder available in waste places in the plains.

Eragrostis gangetica (Roxb.) Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1:266. 1854, is similar to Eragrostis atrovirens but is an annual. The florets diverge at 45 degrees from the rhachilla and are 34 times as long as the internode. The lemmas, which are 1.2-1.7 mm long, do not overlap and the rhachilla is visible between them. There are only 2 stamens.

Widespread in India; it is reported from East Punjab and may occur in Pakistan.

Eragrostis nigra Nees ex Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1:267. 1854, is also similar, having a loose open panicle, slate-grey to almost black florets and lemmas 1.5-2.2 mm long.

Reported from Chitral by Stamm & Wohrl but no authentic specimens have been seen.

Perennial. Culms loosely tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 15–100 cm tall, ca. 4 mm in diam., 4–8-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous but pilose along summit; ligules a ciliolate membrane, 0.2–0.3 mm; leaf blades flat or involute, 4–17 × 0.2–0.4 cm, adaxial surface scabrous, near base pilose, abaxial surface glabrous. Panicle open, 5–20(–25) × 2–15 cm; branches one to several per node. Spikelets plumbeous and purplish, narrowly oblong, 5–15(–25) × 1.5–2.5 mm, 8–40-flowered, pedicels 0.5–5(–15) mm; rachilla persistent. Glumes 1-veined, 1–2.3 mm; lower glume ovate, 1–1.3 mm, apex acute, upper glume narrowly ovate, 1.3–2.3 mm, apex acuminate. Lemmas broad ovate, 1.8–2.2 mm, apex acute, lower lemma 2–2.2 mm, deciduous with palea. Palea loosely ciliate along keel, 1.6–1.8 mm. Stamens 3; anthers 0.7–0.9 mm. Caryopsis ca. 1 mm. Fl. and fr. summer and autumn. 2n = 40.

Tufted perennial without rhizomes; culms 30-100 cm high. Leaf-blades flat or rolled, mostly 15-30 cm long and 24 mm wide. Panicle ovate or oblong, 440 cm long, the spikelets loosely contracted about the obliquely ascending primary branches. Spikelets 6-50-flowered, narrowly oblong, 3-20 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, the opposite rows of florets not overlapping, leaving the rhachilla partly visible, typically grey-green but varying from yellowish to dark green and often tinged with purple, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, ovate-elliptic, 0.8-1.7 mm long, acute; lemmas broadly ovate and acute to subacute when flattened, 1.4-2 mm long, minutely asperulous; palea falling soon after the lemma, the keels scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.5-1 mm long. Caryopsis ellip¬soid, 0.7 mm long.

Africa, Nepal, India, Thailand, Malaysia.

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab & Kashmir); north Africa to Zambia and Angola; Mauritania to the Philippines.

200-1800 m

Fl. & Fr. Per. throughout most of the year.

Roadsides, river banks. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan [tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia].

Poa atrovirens Desfontaines, Fl. Atlant. 1: 73. 1798; Era-grostis chariis (Schultes) Hitchcock; E. elegantula (Kunth) Nees ex Steudel (1854), not Nees (1851); E. fracta S. C. Sun & H. Q. Wang; E. longispicula S. C. Sun & H. Q. Wang; E. multinodis B. S. Sun & S. Wang; Poa chariis Schultes; P. elegantula Kunth.