Common name
African Lovegrass
Weeping 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.

curvula- from the Latin curvus (bent) and -ula (diminutive). Leaf-blades curved.

Published in
Fl. Afr. Austr. 397 (1841).

Common synonyms
Eragrostis chloromelas Steud.

Habit
Perennial, densely tufted. Rootstock not evident. Basal leaf sheaths coriaceous, yellow, distinctly ribbed, pubescent. Culms erect or decumbent, 30–120 cm tall. Ligule a fringe of hairs, 0.3–1 mm long. Leaf-blades straight or curled, persistent, filiform or linear, flat or convolute, 10–30 cm long, 1–3 mm wide.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle open or contracted, lanceolate or ovate, 6–30 cm long. Primary panicle branches spreading, not whorled or whorled at lower nodes. Panicle branches bearing approximate spikelets, glabrous in axils or pubescent in axils.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 4–13 fertile florets, with diminished florets at the apex, linear, laterally compressed, 4–10 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets rhachilla persistent. Spikelets retaining paleas, tough throughout or fragile above, with the distal florets disarticulating separately or disarticulating into irregular segments.

Glumes
Glumes deciduous, similar. Lower glume lanceolate, 1–2 mm long, 60–80% length of upper glume, 1-keeled, 1-nerved. Lower glume lateral nerves absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume ovate, 1.5–3 mm long, 80% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, 1-keeled, 1-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Florets
Fertile florets appressed to rhachilla. Fertile lemma elliptic or ovate, 1.8–2.8 mm long, membranous, grey, 3-nerved. Lemma lateral nerves obscure, midway between midnerve and margin. Lemma apex obtuse or acute, muticous. Palea oblong, with flaps narrower than body or as wide as body. Palea keels wingless, smooth or scaberulous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Anthers 3, 0.8–1.3 mm long. Grain with adherent pericarp, ellipsoid, laterally compressed or dorsally compressed, 0.7 mm long.

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

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

Western Australia: Ashburton, Carnarvon, Austin, Irwin, Drummond, Dale, Menzies, Warren, Eyre, Avon. Northern Territory: Central Australia South. South Australia: Nullabor, Eyre Peninsula, Murray, Southern Lofty, South-eastern. Queensland: North Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Burnett, Wide Bay, Darling Downs, Moreton, Maranoa. New South Wales: Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, South-Western Slopes, South-Western Plains. Victoria: Murray Mallee, Wimmera, Riverina, Midlands, Victorian Volcanic Plain, Gippsland Plains. Tasmania: South West.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae

Notes
Introduced; scattered occurrence in W.A. from Carnarvon to Esperance and then more widespread in SE Australia. Also recorded from S of Alice Springs in N.T.; native to Africa, introduced into Papua New Guinea and Australia. Flowers and fruits all year round.