Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for India Lovegrass - Eragrostis pilosa   (L.) Palisot de Beauvois
Members of Poaceae:
Members of Eragrostis with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Order Cyperales » Family Poaceae
Author(L.) Palisot de Beauvois
DistributionMostly the Mountains and Piedmont; scattered on the Coastal Plain. It is possible that some records mapped below may actually belong to E. minor, which formerly was treated as a variety of E. pilosa.

Native of southern Eurasia; in N.A. mostly in the eastern U.S.
AbundanceFrequent in the Mountains and Piedmont, uncommon in the Coastal Plain.
HabitatFields, fallow fields, roadsides, railroads, disturbed areas, etc.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationE. minor has glandular pits just below stem nodes, absent in E. pilosa. E. pectinacea has first glumes 0.5-1.5 mm long (vs. 0.3-0.6 mm long in E. pilosa).
Taxonomic CommentsOur plants are var. pilosa.

Species in the genus Eragrostis -- the lovegrasses -- often have inflorescences that are larger than the rest of the plant. Such inflorescences are very open and airy, but other species have more contracted inflorescences. Each spikelet is laterally compressed and contains few to many florets, which lack awns.
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankG4
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B.A. SorriePiedmont, open grassy area by RR, Glendon, late Aug 2020. MoorePhoto_non_natural
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