Plants perennial; cespitose, with innovations, without rhizomes, not glandular.
Culms (30)40-90(110) cm, erect, glabrous below the nodes. Sheaths
sparsely pilose on the margins, apices hairy, hairs to 8 mm, not papillose-based;
ligules 0.2-0.4 mm; blades (4)10-20(30) cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat
or involute, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces densely hairy behind
the ligules, elsewhere usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hairy. Panicles
15-40 cm long, (8.5)15-30 cm wide, ovate, open; primary branches 4-25 cm,
diverging 20-90° from the rachises, capillary; pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 2-14 mm, divergent. Spikelets 3-7 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide,
narrowly lanceolate, olivaceous to purplish, with (3)5-11 florets; disarticulation
acropetal, paleas persistent. Glumes lanceolate to ovate, hyaline to membranous;
lower glumes 1.1-1.7 mm,narrower than the upper glumes; upper glumes
1.3-2 mm, apices acuminate to acute; lemmas 1.6-2.2 mm, ovate, membranous,
hyaline near the margins, lateral veins inconspicuous, apices acute; paleas
1.4-2.1 mm, hyaline, narrower than the lemmas, apices obtuse to acute; anthers
3, 0.5-0.8 mm, purplish. Caryopses 0.5-0.9 mm, rectangular-prismatic, somewhat
laterally compressed, with a well-developed adaxial groove, striate, opaque, reddish-brown.
2n
= ca. 54, 60, 72, ca. 74, 80, 100, 120.
Eragrostis intermedia
grows in clay, sandy, and rocky soils, often in disturbed
sites, at 0-1850 m. Its range extends from the United States through Mexico and
Central America to South America. Eragrostis intermedia
is similar to the
more widespread E. lugens, but differs from
that species in having wider spikelets, longer lemmas, and caryopses with a prominent
adaxial groove.
Dr. David Bogler, USDA NRCS PLANTS Database
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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 sheath indurate basally, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branche s 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 laterally compressed, 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 acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membra nous, 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.