''Eragrostis pilosa'' is a species of grass in the family

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. It is native to Eurasia and Africa. It may''Eragrostis pilosa'' var. ''pilosa''.
The Jepson Manual, 1993. or may not
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER). USFS.''Eragrostis pilosa''.
Grass Manual. Flora of North America. be native to North America. It is widely introduced, and it is a common weed in many areas. Common names include Indian lovegrass, Jersey love-grass, hairy love grass, small tufted lovegrass, and soft lovegrass.

Description

This species is an annual grass growing up to 70 centimeters tall. The narrow leaves are up to 20 centimeters long. Both stem and foliage usually have scattered glandular pits; when the species is divided into

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, the abundance of the pits helps to distinguish them. The

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

is a short fringe of hairs. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is an open

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

with branches each up to 10 centimeters long. The lowest branches are whorled about the stem. The narrow, grayish to purple-green spikelets are up to a centimeter long and each can contain up to 10 to 17

florets This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

Habitat and dispersal

This grass can be found in a variety of habitat types, easily taking hold in disturbed areas such as roadsides and crop fields. It grows well in moist and wet habitat, including

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. It is spread by seed, which is transported by water and wind, in soil and

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

, and on machinery and

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

s. It likely has a long-lasting

soil seed bank The soil seed bank is the natural storage of seeds, often dormant, within the soil of most ecosystems. The study of soil seed banks started in 1859 when Charles Darwin observed the emergence of seedlings using soil samples from the bottom of a lak ...

.Li, X., et al. (2006)
Germination strategy and ecological adaptability of ''Eragrostis pilosa''.
(Chinese) ''Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue Bao'' 17(4) 607-10.

Uses

The grass has some value as a

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

and

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food g ...

.''Eragrostis pilosa''.
Fakara Plants. Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences.''Eragrostis pilosa'' (L.) Beauv. - Jersey Love-grass.
AgroAtlas: Interactive Agricultural Ecological Atlas of Russia and Neighboring Countries. The grain is edible by humans.

Teff

This grass is also of interest in agriculture because it is the main wild ancestor of

teff ''Eragrostis tef'', also known as teff, Williams lovegrass or annual bunch grass, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the Horn of Africa, notably to both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is cultivated for its edible seeds, also known as ...

(''Eragrostis tef''), a staple

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

in some regions and of particular importance in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. The close connection between the two grasses is supported by genetic evidence. They are also very similar in

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

, sometimes indistinguishable. The most consistent difference is that ''E. pilosa'' undergoes spikelet shattering, the disintegration of the seedhead that is the first step in

seed dispersal In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

. Teff heads do not shatter, making the plant easier to manage as an agricultural crop. ''E. pilosa'' has been occasionally harvested as a grain in Ethiopia, but only in times of desperation.Ingram, A. L. and J. J. Doyle. (2003)
The origin and evolution of ''Eragrostis tef'' (Poaceae) and related polyploids: evidence from nuclear ''waxy'' and plastid ''rps''16.
''American Journal of Botany'' 90(1) 116-22. The majority of ''Eragrostis'' species are

polyploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...

, with more than two sets of

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s; ''E. pilosa'' is an

allotetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

, containing the genes of other species, suggesting it is of

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

origin. Teff is also allotetraploid. Fertile hybrids between the two have been bred.

Ecology

This grass can be infested with the

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

purple witchweed (''Striga hermonthica'').Watling, J. R. and M. C. Press. (1998)
How does the C₄ grass ''Eragrostis pilosa'' respond to elevated carbon dioxide and infection with the parasitic angiosperm ''Striga hermonthica''?
''New Phytologist'' 140(4) 667-75.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q160490 Bunchgrasses of Africa Bunchgrasses of Asia Bunchgrasses of Europe Flora of Lebanon and Syria

pilosa The order Pilosa is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes the anteaters and sloths (which includes the extinct ground sloths). The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy". Origins and taxonomy The b ...

Cereals