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Eragrostis cilianensis - stinkgrass

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Eragrostis major, Eragrostis megastachya, Poa cilianensis
Other common names
stinking lovegrass
candy grass
stink grass
strong scented lovegrass
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No

Grass Description

Origin
Introduced
Season
Warm

Grows in disturbed sites such as cultivated ground, cracks in pavement and roadsides.

Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Low elevation
0
High elevation
7500

General Description

Plants are highly variable in size; often under 12 inches; few to many seedheads. Stems may be erect or briefly trail along ground before arising; may branch at base and above. Strong smelling when fresh. Ring of glands below the nodes.

Annual; strong smelling when fresh; largest spikelettes less than 1/16 inch wide; keels of lemmas more or less glandular but the glands often obscure. Spikelets many-flowered, 10 to 40.

Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - open and spreading
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
June
Last bloom month
October

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes

Seedheads are ovoid or oblong, densely flowered, condensed to open. Lemmas 3-nerved.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Involute – rolled inward on upper surface

Blades 2 to 8 inches long, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide, flat to involute, top surfaces smooth without hairs, sometimes glandular, occasionally also hairy.

Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Hairy
Auricles
No

Not Available.