Overview
Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Dogtown Grass, Red Three-Awn, Wire Grass
Description
Genus Aristida
Perennials
, less often annuals
or suffruticose
. Culms
tufted
. Leaf blades
usually basal, rolled or rarely flat. Inflorescence a narrow or open panicle. Spikelets
with 1 floret; glumes
scarious
, narrow, unequal with the upper usually longer
, 1(-3) -veined; floret callus bearded
, obtuse
to pungent
or 2-toothed; lemma narrowly cylindrical or laterally compressed
, convolute, glabrous
or sparsely hairy
; awn
3-branched, branches arising directly from lemma apex or seated on a straight or twisted column, persistent
or disarticulating
either at base
or apex of column (always persistent in China), scabrid
. Stamens 3.
About 300 species: widely distributed in tropical
and warm-temperate regions of the world; ten species (six endemic) in China.
This genus is found on poor, dry soils in areas of low rainfall, but does not usually penetrate into true desert.[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
)
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
)
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
)
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
)
- (Auct.) Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Infraphylum:
Angiospermae
(
)
- Auct.
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
)
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
(
)
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Juncanae
(
)
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Poales
(
)
- Small, 1903
- Family:
Gramineae
(
)
- A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons., nom. alt.
- Subfamily:
Aristidoideae
(
)
- Genus:
Aristida
(
)
- C. Linnaeus, 1753
- Threeawn
- Specific epithet:
purpurea
- Vasey
- Variety:
micrantha
- Botanical name: - Aristida purpurea Nutt. Vasey
- Variety:
micrantha
- Specific epithet:
purpurea
- Vasey
- Genus:
Aristida
(
- Subfamily:
Aristidoideae
(
- Family:
Gramineae
(
- Order:
Poales
(
- Superorder:
Juncanae
(
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Angiospermae
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Place of publication
: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. ser. 2, 5:145. 1835
Name
verified on 25-Feb-2004 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last
updated: 10-Jan-2006
Similar Species
Members of the genus Aristida
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 65 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
A. adscensionis (Six-Weeks Three-Awn Grass) · A. adscensionis var. adscensionis (Sixweeks Threeawn) · A. arizonica (Arizona Three-Awn Grass) · A. basiramea (Forked Three-Awn) · A. beyrichiana (Beyrich Threeawn) · A. californica (California Three-Awn Grass) · A. californica var. californica (California Threeawn) · A. californica var. glabrata (Santa Rita Threeawn) · A. chaseae (Chase's Threeawn) · A. cognata (Spreading Threeawn) · A. condensata (Big Three-Awned Grass) · A. desmantha (Curly Threeawn) · A. dichotoma (Churchmouse Threeawn) · A. dichotoma var. curtissii (Curtis' Threeawn) · A. dichotoma var. dichotoma (Churchmouse Threeawn) · A. divaricata (Poverty Threeawn) · A. floridana (Key West Threeawn) · A. gypsophila (Gypsum Threeawn) · A. gyrans (Corkscrew Three-Awn Grass) · A. havardii (Harvard Threeawn) · A. lanosa (Woolly Three-Awn) · A. longespica (Slim-Spike Three-Awn Grass) · A. longespica geniculata (Spiked Needlegrass) · A. longespica longespica (Kearney´s Three-Awn) · A. longespica var. geniculata (Slimspike Threeawn) · A. longispica (Slimspike Threeawn) · A. longispica var. geniculata (Slimspike Threeawn) · A. longispica var. longispica (Slimspike Threeawn) · A. mohrii (Mohr's Three-Awn Grass) · A. oligantha (Oldfield Threeawn) · A. orcuttiana var. orcuttiana (Single Threeawn) · A. palustris (Longleaf Three-Awn) · A. pansa (Wooton Threeawn) · A. pansa var. pansa (Wooton's Threeawn) · A. patula (Tall Three-Awn Grass) · A. portoricensis (Pelos Del Diablo) · A. purpurascens (Arrowfeather Threeawn) · A. purpurascens var. purpurascens (Arrowfeather Threeawn) · A. purpurascens var. tenuispica (Arrowfeather Threeawn) · A. purpurascens var. virgata (Arrowfeather Threeawn) · A. purpurea (Democrat Grass) · A. purpurea var. fendleriana (Fendlers Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. longiseta (Fendlers Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. micrantha (Red Three-Awn) · A. purpurea var. nealleyi (Blue Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. parishii (Parish Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. perplexa (Purple Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. purpurea (Purple Threeawn) · A. purpurea var. wrightii (Wrights Threeawn) · A. ramosissima (Branched Three-Awn Grass) · A. ramosissima var. ramosissima (S-Curve Threeawn) · A. refracta (Islandthicket Threeawn) · A. rhizomophora (Florida Three-Awn Grass) · A. schiedeana (Single Threeawn) · A. schiedeana var. orcuttiana (Orcutt's Threeawn) · A. simpliciflora (Southern Three-Awned Grass) · A. spiciformis (Bottlebrush Threeawn) · A. stricta (Pineland Three-Awn Grass) · A. stricta var. beyrichiana (Wiregrass) · A. suringarii (St. Eustatius Threeawn) · A. swartziana (Swartz's Threeawn) · A. ternipes (Spider Three-Awn Grass) · A. ternipes var. gentilis (Mesa Threeawn) · A. ternipes var. ternipes (Spidergrass) · A. tuberculosa (Seabeach Needlegrass)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Britton, N. L. (ed.). North American flora. [New York]New York Botanical Garden. url p. 393.
- Flora of the southeastern United States; being descriptions of the seed-plants, ferns and fern-allies growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and in Oklahom by John Kunkel Small. New York, The author, 1913. url p. 1327.
- Manual of the grasses of the United States / by A.S. Hitchcock. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1935. url p. 801.
- Small, J. K. Flora of the southeastern United States;being descriptions of the seed-plants, ferns and fern-allies growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolin, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and the Indian territory and in Oklahoma and Texas east of the one-hundredth meridian /by John Kunkel Small. .. 1903 New York: The author, 1903. url p. 1327.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Identifiers
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 16003588
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:19991-2
- GRIN Nomen Number: 316566
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 19991-2
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1116758
Footnotes
- Sheng-lian Lu, Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips "Aristida". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 453. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
