''Eriochloa contracta'' is a species of

grass 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 ...

known by the common name prairie cupgrass. It is native to the central United States and it is

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in areas to the east and west, where it is often a

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

, especially in moist areas. This annual grass may grow up to a meter tall when erect or it may bend, rooting where nodes on the stem touch the ground. 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 up to 20 centimeters long and is made up of several branches which stick out to the sides. The branches are lined with purplish spikelets a few millimeters long.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileGrass Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
Panicoideae {{Panicoideae-stub