Mediterranean Lovegrass

Nile region, oases, Mediterranean region, Egyptian desert, Gebel Elba and Sinai.

Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mediterranean region, eastwards through Arabia to Pakistan.

Watersides and cultivated fields.

Annual.

Very similar in appearance to Eragrostis minor, but can be distinguished by the absence of warty glands on the leaves, lemmas and glumes (although they are still to be found on the inflorescence branches) and the rather longer grain (0.65-0.1 mm rather than 0.6-0.8 mm). Bor’s mention of panicles arising from the lower sheaths does not always help in distinguishing this species from Eragrostis minor. Eragrostis maderaspatana Bor, a closely related species from Madras and Sri Lanka differs from Eragrostis barrelieri in having lemmas less than 1.5 mm long and the caryopsis grooved on the back.

Eragrostis barrelieri has the most easterly extension of its range in Pakistan and is absent from India and Kashmir. It is known as Mediterranean Lovegrass.

Loosely tufted annual; culms 5-50(80) cm high, ascending, Leaf-blades flat or inrolled, up to 10 cm long and 5.5 mm wide, mostly glabrous, devoid of warty crateriform glands, somewhat glaucous. Panicle oblong-lanceolate, 3-20 cm long, usually open, stiffly branched, with glands on branchlets and pedicels. Spikelets 5-30-flowered, narrowly oblong, 5-20 mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide, yellowish green or tinged with grey or purple, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes unequal, lanceolate, the lower 0.9-1.3 mm long, the upper 1.5-2 mm long, acute; lemmas broadly ovate-oblong, 1.7-2.6 mm long, the lateral nerves distinct, obtuse; palea scabrid on the keels, persistent; anthers 3, 0.2 mm long. Caryopsis elliptic-oblong, 0.65-1 mm long, dark brown.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan & N.W.F.P); Mediterranean region to the Middle East; tropical Africa; introduced in South Africa.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: October-November.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf b lades glaucous, blue-green, or grey, or with white glands, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.