Aristida spiciformis

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

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]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found in the intertidal zone at the water's edge at a mean distance from sea level of 40 meters (131 feet).[2]

Biome: Coastal.

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

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

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Further Reading

• American grasses / Washington: Gov. Print. Off., 1897-1901. url p. 121.
• American grasses / by F. Lamson-Scribner. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Agrontology, 1897- url p. 121.
• Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. New York, New York Academy of Sciences. url p. 294, p. 95.
• Annual report / Florida State Geological Survey. Tallahassee, Fla.: Capital Pub. Co., state printer, url p. 126, p. 139, p. 141, p. 148, p. 252, p. 308, p. 334.
• Bartonia;proceedings of the Philadelphia botanical club. .. 11 - 20 1929 - 19 Philadelphia, Philadelphia Botanical Club, Academy of Natural Sciences. url p. 47.
• Britton, N. L. (ed.). North American flora. [New York]New York Botanical Garden. url p. 391.
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 28 1901 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 464, p. 85.
• Circular / United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Agrostology. Washington, D.C.: The Division, 1895-1901. url p. 10.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 46 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 152, p. 364, p. 365, p. 366, p. 408, p. 419, p. 531, p. 552, p. 99.
• 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. 118, p. 118.
• Grasses of the West Indies. By A. S. Hitchcock and Agnes Chase. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1917. url p. 366, p. 408, p. 419.
• Grasses of the West Indies. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1917. url p. 364, p. 408, p. 419.
• Manual of the grasses of the United States / by A.S. Hitchcock. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1935. url p. 450, p. 452, p. 801.
• Manual of the southeastern flora: being descriptions of the seed plants growing naturally in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, eastern Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. 1933 New York: The author, 1933. url p. 94.
• Novon a journal of botanical nomenclature from the Missouri Botanical Garden. 2 1992 St. Louis, MO: Missouri Botanical Garden, url p. 39.
• Plant life of Alabama, an account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state. By Charles Mohr. .. Montgomery, Ala., Brown printing co., 1901. url p. 365.
• Plant life of Alabama. An account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state. Prepared in cooperationwith the Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1901. url , .
• Plant life of Alabama: an account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state / by Charles Mohr. Montgomery, Ala.: Brown Printing Co., 1901. url p. 365.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 42.
• Transactions of the. .. annual meetings of the Kansas Academy of Science. Topeka, Kan.: Kansas Pub. House, 1883-1901. url p. 93.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 21, 2007:

• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database
• University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics, Herbarium

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2661437
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-41407
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13730671
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:389793-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 41407
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PMPOA0K120
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: ARSP3
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 22674

Footnotes

1. 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]
2. Standard Deviation = 349.660 based on 177 observations. Terrestrial altitude and ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

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