Feather Love Grass

This grass is one of the most common weeds in Taiwan.

Annual; culm weak, usually geniculate, 3-4-noded; ligule a ring a short hairs. Inflorescence an oblong panicle, 5-10 cm long, ciliated at axils of branches, glandular. Spikelets 4-8-flowered, ovate, to elliptic-ovate, about 2 mm long; rachilla falling off successively downwards from top to the base; glumes broadly ovate, membranous, 1-nerved, subequal; lower glume slightly smaller, about 2/3 as long as the upper, falling off when mature; lemmas keeled, broadly ovate, about 1 mm long, 3-nerved; palea persistent, or tardily deciduous, long ciliate on the keels, the hairs rigidly spreading at maturity; anthers 3, about 0.3 mm long. Caryopsis ovoid, about 0.5 mm long.

Widely distributed in the tropics of the Old World. .

Poa amabilis L. Sp. Pl. 69. 1753.
Poa tenella L. Sp. Pl. 69. 1753.
Eragrostis tenella (L.) P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 2: 576. 1817 ; Koyama, Grass. Jap. Neighb. Reg. 257. 1987
Poa plumosa Retz., Obs. Bot. 4: 20. 1788.
Eragrostis plumosa (Retz.) Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 192. 1827; Honda, Monogr. Poac. Jap. 109. 1930.

amabilis: lovely

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or p olygonal, 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, hispid or prickly, 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 blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, 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 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 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, 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 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 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 ke els winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Eragrostis amabilis is a bunchgrass, in the subfamily Chloridoideae of Poaceae, native to Africa and southern Asia. Synonymy includes: Eragrostis tenella Benth., Eragrostis elegans Nees, and Eragrostis interrupta Lam. Döll.