Purple Lovegrass
Eragrostis spectabilis
- Plant Type
- Grass (Deciduous)
- Landscape Layer
- Ground Cover
- Sun
- ☀️ Full Sun, ⛅ Part Sun, ☁️ Shade
- Moisture
- 🏜️ Dry
- Soil
- Loam, Sand, Silt, Rocky / Acidic
- Bloom
- April, May
- Sociability
- S3 – Small colonies
Pollinator Value
- ❄️ Winter Food Source
- Seeds consumed at genus level by Gambel's Quail (8.8% of diet items), Wild Turkey (37% occurrence), and Lapland Longspur. USDA reports high seed abundance with summer-fall fruiting, though seeds are not persistent on the plant; the detaching inflorescence (tumbleweed habit) disperses seed across the landscape, providing ground-level forage for granivorous birds.
S57 genus-level diet data; S11 Fruit/Seed Abundance=High, Persistence=No
Ecology & Conservation
- Proximity Score
- 2
- Native Status
- ❌ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ❌ QC ✅ ON
- Closest Direction
- SE
- CEC Eco-Regions
- 8 – Eastern Temperate Forests, 8.1 – Mixed Wood Plains, 8.1.7 – Northeastern Coastal Zone
- Rarity Notes
- Apparently Secure (S4) in Ontario with 414 preserved specimens across multiple ecoregions; nationally ranked N4 in Canada. In Quebec ranked SNA (introduced). Not SARA-listed. Globally secure (G5). Nearest Ontario specimens to Gatineau are in ecoregion 5.2.2 (14 specimens) and 5.2.1 (10 specimens), with bulk of ON records in 8.1.5 (225 specimens) in southern Ontario.
S22 G5, N4, S4-ON, SNA-QC; S48 ON specimen stats; S26 not SARA-listed
- Rarity Ranks
- QC SNA – Not Applicable, ON S4 – Apparently Secure
- Migration
- Stable
- Ecological Context
- A warm-season C4 perennial grass of dry, sandy, open habitats. Characteristic of sand prairies, hill prairies, upland savannas, sandy roadsides, and disturbed sandy ground. In Ontario it is native and apparently secure (S4), occurring primarily in southern counties. It colonizes dry, nutrient-poor sandy or gravelly substrates where competition from taller vegetation is limited. In Quebec it is considered introduced (VASCAN). Nearest Ontario specimens occur in ecoregion 8.1.5 (southern ON); closest US specimens are from northern New York and Vermont.
S1 native ON, introduced QC; S10 sand prairies, dry barren soil; S7 dry fields, sand barrens, roadsides; S4 sandy or disturbed sites; S48 ON specimen distribution
Permaculture & Companion Planting
- Roles
- Erosion Control, Fortress/Barrier
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Erosion Control: S61 keyword match: erosion (supporting signal only)] | Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: prickl (supporting signal only)]
- Notes
- A useful ground-layer grass for dry, low-fertility sites. Its tolerance of juglone makes it one of few ornamental grasses that thrive under Black Walnut, filling the herb layer where other species fail. The rhizomatous, tufted habit provides erosion control on slopes and embankments. Go Botany notes it has been proposed as a deeper-rooting native replacement for amenity grasses on highway embankments.
S46 Black Walnut tolerance; S61 erosion control, highway embankment proposal; S3 complementary context
Edibility & Foraging ℹ
Never ingest a plant unless you have 100% certainty of its identity and have consulted multiple reputable sources. The information provided in the Localeaf Plant Database is compiled from secondary sources for educational and historical purposes only.
Click here for more info →
ℹ
Never ingest a plant unless you have 100% certainty of its identity and have consulted multiple reputable sources. The information provided in the Localeaf Plant Database is compiled from secondary sources for educational and historical purposes only.
Click here for more info →❌ Not Edible
Seed Source
- Localeaf