Eragrostis mexicana
Mexican lovegrass
(c) Sue Carnahan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · licence
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Native
Eragrostis mexicana (Mexican lovegrass) is a native California grass in the Poaceae family.
Mexican lovegrass is a California native annual grass found in open grasslands and disturbed areas. Flowering from July to October, this plant produces gray-green to reddish spikelets in open, branching inflorescences 10 to 35 centimeters long. Growing with widely spreading to erect stems 15 to 100 centimeters tall, it features distinctive glandular depressions below the nodes. Its leaf blades are flat, 5 to 25 centimeters long and 4 to 7 millimeters wide, occasionally hairy underneath. The small spikelets contain 5 to 15 florets with lemmas 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters long, creating a delicate, airy appearance.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: Geographically isolated; parent species with unclear range data
Habitat and range
California counties: San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Inyo, Mono, Riverside, El Dorado, Sacramento, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern, San Francisco, Yolo, San Diego, Butte, Merced, Santa Cruz, Monterey
How to tell it apart
vs Poa: Eragrostis spikelets are many-flowered and laterally flattened with 3-veined lemmas and no cobwebby tuft at the floret base; Poa lemmas are 5-veined, keeled and boat-tipped, often with webby hairs at the base.; vs Bromus: Eragrostis lemmas are small and awnless with 3 prominent veins; Bromus lemmas are larger, many-veined, and usually bear an awn from a notched tip.; vs Sporobolus: Eragrostis spikelets carry several florets each; Sporobolus spikelets hold a single floret and the ripe seed often falls free or swells with mucilage.; vs Muhlenbergia: Eragrostis spikelets are many-flowered and awnless in an open panicle; Muhlenbergia spikelets are 1-flowered and the lemma is commonly awn-tipped.; vs Leptochloa: Eragrostis carries spikelets in an open, spreading panicle; Leptochloa arranges them along slender, one-sided spike-like branches.
Frequently asked questions
Is Eragrostis mexicana native to California?
Yes. Eragrostis mexicana is native to California (recorded as native).
Where in California does Eragrostis mexicana grow?
Eragrostis mexicana occurs in San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Inyo, Mono, Riverside, El Dorado, Sacramento and other counties.
What plant family does Eragrostis mexicana belong to?
Eragrostis mexicana is in the Poaceae family, genus Eragrostis.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
- Eragrostis mexicana subsp. mexicana — Mexican love grass
- Eragrostis mexicana subsp. virescens — Chilean love grass
- Eragrostis minor — Little love grass
- Eragrostis pectinacea — Tufted lovegrass
- Eragrostis pectinacea var. miserrima — Gulf love grass
- Eragrostis pectinacea var. pectinacea — Carolina love grass
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.