Common name
Elastic Grass

Derivation
Eragrostis Wolf, Gen. Sp. Pl. 23 (1776); from the Greek, eros (loving), together with Agrostis, the Greek name of an indeterminate herb.

Or from the Greek er (early) and agrostris (wild). Species of Eragrostis are commonly early invaders of arable land.

Or from the Greek eri, an inseparable particle used as a prefix to strengthen a word in the sense of very much, that is a many-floreted Agrostis.

tenuifolia- from the Latin tenuis (slender) and folium (leaf). Leaf-blades narrow.

Published in
Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 268 (1854).

Habit
Perennial, densely tufted. Rootstock not evident. Basal leaf sheaths glabrous. Young shoots flabellate. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, 10–92 cm tall. Ligule a fringe of hairs, 0.2–0.5 mm long. Leaf-blades straight, persistent, flat or involute, 4–30 cm long, 1–4 mm wide. Leaf-blade apex attenuate.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle open, elliptic, 5–28 cm long. Primary panicle branches spreading. Panicle branches bearing approximate spikelets, glabrous in axils or bearded in axils.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Pedicels filiform, eglandular or glandular. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 4–16 fertile florets, with diminished florets at the apex, linear, laterally compressed, 4–16 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets rhachilla persistent. Spikelets retaining paleas.

Glumes
Glumes deciduous, similar. Lower glume lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm long, 50–60% length of upper glume, 1-keeled, 1-nerved. Lower glume lateral nerves absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume lanceolate, 0.8–1.7 mm long, 50–60% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, 1-keeled, 1-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Florets
Fertile florets appressed to rhachilla (initially) or divergent, free at tip (serrate in outline). Fertile lemma elliptic or oblong, 1.6–2.5 mm long, membranous, dark green, 3-nerved. Lemma lateral nerves obscure, close to margins. Lemma apex obtuse or acute, muticous. Palea oblong, with flaps wider than body. Palea keels wingless, scaberulous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Anthers 3, 0.5–0.9 mm long. Grain with adherent pericarp, oblong, laterally compressed (strongly), 1 mm long.

Continental Distribution:
Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific, North America, South America.

Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania.

Western Australia: Gardner, Drummond. Northern Territory: Central Australia North. Queensland: Cook, Burke, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Burnett, Wide Bay, Moreton. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, Northern Tablelands, North-Western Plains, South Far Western Plains. Tasmania: East Coast.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae

Notes
Introduced; occurs in Broome and near Perth, W.A., near Stirling, N.T., mostly along the E coast from Cairns, Qld, S to Sydney, N.S.W., and also near Hobart, Tas.; occurs in tropical Africa, S America, India, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. Flowers and fruits all year.
A troublesome weed.