Darnel Lovegrass

Sporobolus brasiliensis (Raddi) Hack. Bull. Herb. Boiss. II
4: 278. 1904.
Air a brasiliensis Raddi, Agrost. Bras. 36. 1823.
Eragrostis airoides Nees, Agrost. Bras. 509. 1829. (Based on Aira brasiliensis Raddi.)
Perennial; culms in small tufts; erect, glabrous, without nodes above the base, about 1 meter tall; sheaths several, overlapping on the lower part of the culm, glabrous, sparsely pilose or glabrous at the throat; ligule short, ciliate; blades flat or those of the innovations involute, scabrous on the upper surface, glabrous beneath, elongate, 2-3 mm. wide; panicles open, rather more than half the entire length of the plant, 6-15 cm. wide, the axis glabrous, the slender branches, branchlets, and pedicels spreading, 1-3 together on the axis, the clusters distant; spikelets 1-2-flowered, rarely 3-flowered, about 1.3 mm. long, the pedicels 2 or 3 times as long as the spikelet ; glumes somewhat unequal, a little shorter than the spikelet, acute ; lemma acute, rounded on the back, without lateral nerves.
Type locality: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Distribution: Savannas, Cuba; also Brazil.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, 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 c auline, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, 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 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 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, R achilla or pedicel hairy, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes equal to or longer 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 acute or acuminate, 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.