Indian Lovegrass

This species is very widely distributed in tropical and warm regions of the Old World. It is a forage grass with medicinal uses.

Hairy or India Lovegrass is considered to be good fodder and is enjoyed by buffaloes.

Culm tufted. Blade linear-lanceolate, about 8 cm long by 3.5 mm wide; ligule about 0.4 mm long, upper half turned into a fringe of hairs; sheath-mouth sparingly covered with long silky hairs. Inflorescence a large open panicle, about 14 mm long. Spikelets 6-7-flowered, about 4 mm long; glumes chartaceous, 1-nerved; the lower glume about 0.5 mm long, ovate lanceolate; the upper about 0.8 mm long, lanceolate; lemma chartaceous, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-nerved, lateral 2 inconspicuous; palea chartaceous, oblanceolate, obtuse, 2-keeled, scabrous along keels. Caryopsis elliptical, about 0.5 mm long; embryo 1/2 the length of the caryopsis.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 15–60 cm tall, 1.5–2.5 mm in diam., 4-noded, smooth. Leaf sheaths pilose at summit, compressed, margin submembranous; ligules a line of hairs; leaf blades flat or involute, 6–20 × 0.2–0.3 cm, glabrous. Panicle 10–25 × 3.5–14 cm; branches solitary to verticillate, pilose in axils, usually ascending, pedicels as long or longer than spikelets. Spikelets 3–10 × 1–1.5 mm, 4–14-flowered. Glumes membranous, lanceolate, apex acuminate, lower glume without vein, 0.4–0.9 mm, upper glume 1-veined, 0.7–1.3 mm. Lemmas ovate, apex acute, lower lemma ca. 1.8 mm. Palea ca. 1.5 mm, along keels persistent or tardily deciduous ciliate. Stamens 3; anthers 0.1–0.3 mm. Caryopsis oblong, ca. 0.8 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug–Nov. 2n = 40, 60.

Loosely tufted annual; culms 8-70 cm high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades flat, 2-20 cm long, 14 mm wide. Panicle elliptic to ovate, 4-25 cm long, open, the lowest branches whorled (except in the smallest panicles) and nearly always with a few long white hairs in the axils. Spikelets 4-14-flowered, linear, 3-7 mm long, 0.7-1.2 mm wide, purplish-green, the florets ± appressed to the rhachilla, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes hyaline, unequal, the lower a narrowly ovate nerveless scale 0.5-0.7 mm long, the .upper ovate, 1 mm long, with a single indistinct nerve; lemmas broadly ovate, 1-1.6 mm long, obtuse to subacute; palea falling soon after the lemma (usually persistent in temperate regions), the keel scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.2-0.3 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid with one side straight, 0.6-1 mm long, somewhat laterally compressed.

Tropical and warm regions of the Old World.

Very widely distributed in tropical and warm regions of the Old World.

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab & N.W.F.P.); tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World; introduced to the New World.

200 m

Fl. & Fr. Per. July-October.

Open grasslands. Anhui, Beijing, Fujian, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [SE Asia; Africa, Australia, S Europe; introduced in America].

Poa pilosa Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 68. 1753.

pilosa: pilose, with long soft hairs

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Plants with glandular pits or bands below nodes, on branches or lemma, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and f ertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Eragrostis pilosa is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is native to Eurasia and Africa. It may or may not 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.