Eragrostis minor seed
LATIN NAME: ERAGROSTIS MINOR
COMMON NAME: Little Lovegrass
In the waste ground and the dry fields of the warm world, the little lovegrass grows as a slender, tufted, annual grass with the narrow, grey-green leaves and the open, spreading panicles of tiny, grey-green spikelets that nod in the summer breeze. The young plant grows into a flat-topped crown, around ten metres at maturity. Full sun brings out its best, in ordinary, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The little lovegrass shows up in the studies of the annual grasses of the warm world, its nodding panicles and its tiny seeds keeping it in view in the work on the dryland grasses of the waste ground and the forage grasses of the poor soils. The research looks at the way the panicles spread and nod, the tiny seeds ripen and scatter, and the seed biology of the minute, numerous seeds.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
In the wild meadow and the dry border, the little lovegrass carries the airy, nodding panicles that catch the light in the summer and self-seed where the ground is poor. The modest grass gives a fine, soft texture, and the plant makes the fine meadow grass, the dryland annual and the plant of the sunny, poor garden. It is a plant for the open, sunny, sandy and free-draining place.
To grow the Little Lovegrass from seed, scatter the dust-fine seeds on the surface of light, sandy soil.
Scatter the dust-fine seeds on the surface of light, sandy soil, and keep the young grasses in the open, sunny spot. The nodding panicles catch the summer breeze.
LATIN NAME: Eragrostis minor
COMMON NAME: Little Lovegrass, Smaller Stinkgrass
Little lovegrass is a small and modest grass of the wayside, and it grows happily in the warm, open places of the world. It establishes itself as a feathery, arching clump, to about thirty centimetres. It is a plant of the disturbed, open ground, growing along roadsides, in fields and in sandy places, and it is native to much of the warm Old World, from where it has travelled widely.
Little lovegrass belongs to the grass family, Poaceae, and it is native to most of the subtropical and warm temperate Old World. It has been introduced to North America, South America and Australia, and it prefers disturbed open places with little competition, growing in sandy and open ground. Its name stinkgrass comes from the faint, rather musty smell of the crushed foliage, though the plant itself is a light and airy little grass, and its feathery heads are a familiar sight along warm roadsides and in sandy fields.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
Little lovegrass has a genuine and interesting place in ecological and botanical research. As a widespread grass of the disturbed, open ground, it has been studied in ecology for its role in early colonisation, since it is one of the plants that quickly moves into bare, disturbed places, and researchers have examined its growth and its behaviour in the landscape. The genus Eragrostis, which includes the cultivated teff of Ethiopia, is of real interest in plant science, since teff is one of the staple grains of the Horn of Africa, and the relationships within the genus have been studied in research on the grasses and their crops. The plant has also been studied in botany and taxonomy for its place among the lovegrasses. For a grass of such modest appearance and such interesting connections, little lovegrass has a steady and growing record of research.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
Ecologically, little lovegrass is a generous plant of the open ground. Its airy heads and seeds feed small birds and insects, and its quick, tufted growth covers and holds the soil on the disturbed, sandy places where it grows.
Its economic value lies mainly in its place in the grass family. It is closely related to the cultivated teff of Ethiopia, one of the staple grains of the region, and the genus to which it belongs is of real importance in agriculture and research, while the plant itself is sometimes used as forage in its native range. For a grower, little lovegrass is an easy and interesting grass, and for a gardener it brings a light, feathery tuft of green to the sunny border. The seed is fine and easy — scatter it on the surface of moist, free-draining compost in spring, keep it lightly watered in a sunny spot, and the little seedlings will be up within a couple of weeks, forming airy tufts that sway in the summer breeze.