Teal Lovegrass (Eragrostis hypnoides)
- Family: Grass (Poaceae)
- Flowering: July-November.
- Field Marks: The genus Eragrostis is recognized by its several-flowered spikelets without awns. Teal lovegrass is distinguished from the others by its growth habit where it forms a dense mat on the wet soil. Its stems and leaves are not hairy.
- Habitat: Borders of streams and rivers, edge of ponds and lakes; in sloughs.
- Habit: Creeping annual forming dense mats on the wet soil.
- Stems: Slender, creeping, branched, smooth, up to 1 foot long.
- Leaves: Leaves short and narrow, up to 1 1/2 inches long, 1/20-1/10 inch broad, smooth, rough along the edges.
- Flowers: 6-40 per spikelet, with several spikelets arranged in small open panicles, the panicles up to 3 inches long, each spikelet flattened, up to 2/3 inch long, about 1/10 inch wide; glumes pointed, 1/20 inch long; lemmas pointed, hairy, 1/10 inch long.
- Grains: Flat, reddish, about 1/40 inch long.
- Notes: This species is sometimes known as pony grass.
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea)
