LOVE GRASS

any of the tufted annual and perennial grasses of the genus Eragrostis (family Poaceae). About 250 species are native to tropical and temperate regions of the world. Plains love grass (E. intermedia), sand love grass (E. trichodes), and weeping love grass (E. curvula) are forage species in southern North America. Weeping love grass, native to South Africa, was introduced elsewhere as an ornamental and now is used to reclaim abandoned or eroded areas formerly under cultivation. Stink grass (E. cilianensis), a weedy, coarse annual native to the Mediterranean regions and introduced into many other areas, has a musty odour produced by glands on its leaves and can be poisonous to livestock if consumed in large amounts.