Common name
Soft Lovegrass

Derivation
Eragrostis Wolf, Gen. Sp. Pl. 23 (1776); from the Greek, eros (loving), together with Agrostis, the Greek name of an indeterminate herb.

Or from the Greek er (early) and agrostris (wild). Species of Eragrostis are commonly early invaders of arable land.

Or from the Greek eri, an inseparable particle used as a prefix to strengthen a word in the sense of very much, that is a many-floreted Agrostis.

pilosa- from the Latin pilus (a hair) and -osa (abundance). The whole plant or any of its organs invested with long spreading hairs.

Published in
Ess. Agrostogr. 71, 162, 175 (1812).

Habit
Annual, tufted. Rootstock not evident. Culms erect or geniculately ascending or decumbent, 8–83 cm tall. Ligule a fringe of hairs, 0.3–0.5 mm long. Leaf-blades straight, persistent, flat or convolute, 2–20 cm long, 1–4 mm wide.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle open, elliptic or ovate, 4–30 cm long. Primary panicle branches spreading, whorled at lower nodes. Panicle branches bearing approximate spikelets, eglandular, bearded in axils.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Pedicels eglandular. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 4–8(–19) fertile florets, with diminished florets at the apex, linear or lanceolate, laterally compressed, 2.5–9.5 mm long, 0.7–1.2 mm wide, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets rhachilla persistent. Spikelets shedding paleas or retaining paleas (in temperate regions).

Glumes
Glumes deciduous, dissimilar. Lower glume ovate, 0.2–0.7 mm long, 50–70% length of upper glume, hyaline, 0-nerved. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume ovate, 0.4–1.4 mm long, 60–100% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, hyaline, 1-keeled, 1-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Florets
Fertile florets appressed to rhachilla. Fertile lemma ovate, 1–1.7 mm long, hyaline or membranous, 3-nerved. Lemma lateral nerves obscure, close to margins. Lemma apex obtuse or acute. Palea oblong, with flaps as wide as body. Palea keels wingless, scaberulous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm long. Grain with adherent pericarp, ellipsoid, laterally compressed, plano-convex or quadrangular, 0.6–1 mm long.

Continental Distribution:
Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific, North America, South America.

Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria.

Western Australia: Gardner. Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf,Central Australia North, Central Australia South. Queensland: Cook, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Moreton, Gregory North, Mitchell. South Australia: Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens Basin, South-eastern. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, Southern Tablelands, South-Western Plains. Victoria: Riverina, Midlands, Gippsland Plains.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae

Notes
Introduced; occurs at Beverley Springs in the Kimberley, W.A., northern N.T. and around Alice Springs, and then most commonly on the E coast and tablelands from Mt Molloy near Cairns in Qld, S to Melbourne, Vic.; also occurs in the Old World Tropics. Flowers and fruits all year round.
A troublesome weed.