Eragrostis scabriflora

Description

"Perennial, densely tufted grass. Culms erect, 20-70 cm long, glabrous. Leaf sheath glabrous except for long hairs ca. 2 mm long at the throat; ligule a fringe of hairs ca. 0.3 mm long. Leaf blade linear, 5-15 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or slightly folded, surfaces scabrous, margins finely scabrous and often involute. Inflorescence a panicle 5-15 cm long from the first branch, with solitary branches 1-4 cm long densely flowered from near the base. Spikelets oblong, 4-7 mm long, 11-18-flowered, appressed to the branches. Glumes glabrous, 1-nerved, 1.5-2 mm long, scabrid on the keel. Lemmas 1.5-2 mm long, 3-nerved, imbricate, minutely scabrous on the keel; paleae conspicuously ciliate on the margins, about as long as the lemmas, with the caryopsis falling free of the floret. Distinguishable by its small grass habit, panicle of short branches flowered from the base, and small brown seed that falls free of the spikelet" (Whistler & Steele, 1999; p. 85).