Prairie Cupgrass

Prairie Cupgrass

Eriochloa contracta A.S. Hitchc.

Poaceae (Grass Family)

▲ ▼ mature plants

▲ ▼ flowering stem with panicle inflorescence

▲ flowering stem close-up

▲ separate seeds/fruit from flowering stemtips

▲ ▼ stem and leaves

▲ ▼ ligule area (above) and collarregion (below) on leaves

Prairie Cupgrass:

Warm-season annual grass that grows 1-3 feet tall, sometimes more sprawling than upright, with bright green mostly hairless leaves
Inflorescence is a compressed panicle, with light green spikelets and seeds on tiny purplish cup-like structures
Individual flowers have tiny awns
Found in southeast Missouri and in other southern and western states, particularly in reduced-tillage row crops
Similar Southwestern Cupgrass:
- has broader leaves covered with soft hairs
- has fewer branches in the inflorescence and florets lack awns
inflorescences similar to Woolly Cupgrass except they are not as hairy & have awns
increasing in reduced tillage row crops