Eragrostis

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Poaceae

• Scientific Name

  Eragrostis

• Description

  Genus Description - Annual or perennial grasses, rarely dioecious, from a few inches to several feet in height, the spikelets in contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2-manyflowered, more or less flattened. Two lower scales empty, unequal, shorter than the flowering ones, keeled, 1-nerved, or the second 3-nerved; flowering scales membranous, keeled, 3-nerved; palets shorter than the scales, prominently 2-nerved or 2-keeled, usually persisting on the rachilla after the fruiting scale has fallen. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles distinct, short. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, etymology doubtful, perhaps signifying a low grass, or Love-grass, an occasional English name.] A genus of about 100 species, widely distributed throughout all warm and temperate countries. Type species: Brisa Eragrostis L.