Ontario Weeds: Stink grass

Table of Contents

1. Name
2. Other Names
3. Family
4. General Description
   • Photos and Pictures
5. Stems and Roots
6. Flowers and Fruit
7. Habitat
8. Similar Species
9. Related Links

Name: Stink grass, Eragrostis cilianensis (All.) Lutati,

Other Names: éragrostide, fétide, Love grass, Stinking love grass, éragrostide à forte odeur, E. megastachya (Koel.) Link

Family: Grass Family (Gramineae)

General Description: Annual, reproducing only by seed.

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Photos and Pictures

Stink grass.

Stink grass. A. Plant. B. Leaf base.

Stem and leaf-base characteristics of a typical grass.

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Stems & Roots: Stems 10-50cm (4-20in.) long, tufted, outer stems of a bunch often lying on the ground and rooting at the nodes (a) but with upturned tips; leaves hairless, flat, 3-10mm (1/8-3/8in.) wide; leaf sheaths split, the margins overlapping, not hairy except for a tuft of short (1-3mm, 1/25-1/8in.) hair on either side at the junction of blade and sheath; ligule a band of hairs about .5mm (1/50in.) high; no auricles but the tufts of hairs on each side of the collar might be mistaken for auricles; tiny glands present on leaf margins, sheaths, and in a ring encircling the stem just below each node.

Flowers & Fruit: Inflorescence, dark gray-green to light brownish, branching but either dense and compact or open and spreading, both kinds often on the same plant; spikelets small, oblong, 5-15mm (1/5-3/5in.) long, 3mm (1/8in.) wide but having 10 to 40 florets; each floret about 2.5mm (1/10in.) containing a single, tiny, yellowish to reddish-orange, egg-shaped kernel ("seed") about 0.7mm (1/30in.) long. Fresh plants have a distinct odour which many people find disagreeable. Flowers from August to September.

Habitat: Stink grass occurs in coarse sandy or gravelly soils in edges of fields, waste areas, right-of-way throughout southern Ontario, being most common in central and southwestern areas. Introduced from Europe.

Similar Species: It is distinguished by its tufted habit, its gray-green to light brownish inflorescences that may be both compact and loose on the same plant, and its small, compact, many-floreted spikelets that readily shed their tiny yellowish to orange kernels at maturity.

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Related Links

... on general Weed topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control

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