Purple Lovegrass

Eragrostis spectabilis

''Eragrostis spectabilis'', known as purple lovegrass, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae, native from southern Canada to northeastern Mexico. It was first described by Frederick Traugott Pursh in 1813 as ''Poa spectabilis'', and transferred to ''Eragrostis'' by Ernst von Steudel in 1840.
Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass) Hairs at axils of inflorescence branches. Eragrostis spectabilis is a low-growing perennial clump-forming grass that produces long panicles of flowers on thin stems in late summer. As the flowers and later seeds mature the florets take on a deep pink color. When masses of these plants grow together the effect can be spectacular. When the seeds mature the stems will break off and be blown about scatereing seeds in new locations. Habitat: dry sandy and gravelly soil in full sun. Eragrostis spectabilis,Geotagged,Purple Lovegrass,Summer,United States,grass

Appearance

This perennial grass is 30-60 cm tall and tufted at the base with erect to widely spreading culms. Each culm has 3-4 alternate leaves; it is unbranched, light green to light tan, glabrous, and mostly hidden by the sheaths.

The leaf blades are 3-8 mm. across and up to 25 cm long; they are medium green, ascending to widely spreading, and usually hairless (except near the base of the blade). The leaf sheaths are open, rather loose, and more or less hairy. However, sometimes the upper sheaths are hairless. Each ligule consists of a ring of long white hairs; these hairs are conspicuous at the junction of each blade and sheath.

The inflorescence is up to 38 cm long and 30 cm across, globoid-ovoid in overall shape, and larger than the rest of the plant; it consists of an airy panicle of spikelets with widely spreading branches. Along the central axis (rachis) of this panicle, there are whorls of 3 branches, which divide into smaller branches.

At each whorl along the central axis, there is a small tuft of hair. Sometimes smaller tufts of hair can be found where the branches divide into smaller branches. These branches are very slender and somewhat stiff. Individual spikelets occur on slender pedicels; these pedicels are usually longer than the spikelets. The spikelets are about 4-7 mm. long, 1.5 mm. across, and flattened; they are pale purple to bright purple when the florets bloom, but later become light tan.

Each spikelet consists of a pair of glumes and 5-15 lemmas in two columnar ranks. The lemmas are 1.5–2.0 mm. long, ovate, folded along their keels, and 3-veined. The glumes are lanceolate, folded along their keels, and a little shorter than the lemmas. The blooming period occurs from late summer to early fall. At maturity, the entire inflorescence can become detached and blow about in the wind, thereby distributing the seeds. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous.
Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass) Hairy ligules. Eragrostis spectabilis is a low-growing perennial clump-forming grass that produces long panicles of flowers on thin stems in late summer. As the flowers and later seeds mature the florets take on a deep pink color. When masses of these plants grow together the effect can be spectacular. When the seeds mature the stems will break off and be blown about scatereing seeds in new locations. Habitat: dry sandy and gravelly soil in full sun. Eragrostis spectabilis,Geotagged,Purple Lovegrass,Summer,United States,grass

Habitat

Preferred growing conditions are full sun and dry barren soil containing sand or gravel. Because of a C4 metabolism, most vegetative growth occurs during the summer when the weather is warm. This low-growing grass is resistant to drought.
Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass) Purple spikelets, flattened florets, prominent lateral veins, margins of lemmas and paleas with fringes. Eragrostis spectabilis is a low-growing perennial clump-forming grass that produces long panicles of flowers on thin stems in late summer. As the flowers and later seeds mature the florets take on a deep pink color. When masses of these plants grow together the effect can be spectacular. When the seeds mature the stems will break off and be blown about scatereing seeds in new locations. Habitat: dry sandy and gravelly soil in full sun. Eragrostis spectabilis,Geotagged,Purple Lovegrass,Summer,United States,grass

Predators

The leafhopper Flexamia areolata sucks juices from the foliage of Purple Love Grass; the caterpillars of Poanes zabulon (Zabulon Skipper) also feed on the foliage. The foliage of young plants is palatable to cattle and other livestock.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/pp_lovegrass.htm
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassMonocots
OrderPoales
FamilyPoaceae
GenusEragrostis
SpeciesE. spectabilis
Photographed in
United States of America