Aristida divaricata
Aristida tuberculosa
poverty grass, poverty three-awn
seaside threeawn
25-70 cm, erect or prostrate, unbranched or sparingly branched.
(25) 40-100 cm, erect or decumbent to ascending near the base, highly branched above the base;
nodes and internodes glabrous.
tending to be basal;
sheaths longer than the internodes, glabrous except at the summit;
collars densely pilose;
ligules 0.5-1 mm;
blades 5-20 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous.
cauline;
sheaths usually slightly shorter than the internodes, glabrous or pilose;
collars often with a line of tangled hairs;
ligules about 0.5 mm;
blades 8-25 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, light green, flat to loosely involute, glabrous and smooth abaxially, scabridulous adaxially.
paniculate, 10-30 cm long, 6-25 cm wide, peduncles flattened and easily broken;
rachis nodes glabrous or with hairs, hairs to 0.5 mm;
primary branches 5-13 cm, stiffly divaricate to reflexed, with axillary pulvini, usually naked on the basal 1/2;
secondary branches usually well-developed.
paniculate, 10-20 cm long, 3-10 cm wide;
rachis nodes glabrous, scabrous, or strigose;
primary branches 1-4 cm, stiffly ascending, with axillary pulvini, with 1-4 spikelets per branch.
overlapping, usually appressed, sometimes divergent and the pedicels with axillary pulvini.
loosely congested.
8-12 mm, 1-veined, acuminate or shortly awned, awns to 4 mm;
calluses about 0.5 mm;
lemmas 8-13 mm long, the terminal 2-3 mm with 4 or more twists when mature, narrowing to 0.1-0.2 mm wide just below the awns, junction with the awns not evident;
awns (7)10-20 mm, not disarticulating at maturity;
central awns almost straight to curved at the base, ascending to somewhat divergent distally;
lateral awns slightly thinner and from much to slightly shorter than the central awns, ascending to divergent;
anthers 3, 0.8-1 mm.
20-30 mm, yellowish-brown, 1-veined, apices narrowing to a 5-10 mm awn;
upper glumes slightly longer than the lower glumes;
calluses 3-4 mm;
lemmas 10-14 mm, dark and mottled at maturity, glabrous or occasionally sparsely pubescent, not beaked, junction of the lemma and awns evident;
awns twisted together basally into a 8-15 mm column, free portions 30-40 mm, those of the central and lateral awns similar in length, strongly curved to arcuate near the base, straight and strongly divergent to reflexed distally, disarticulating at the base of the column at maturity;
anthers 3, about 2.5 mm, brownish.
8-10 mm, light brown.
8-10 mm, dark brown.
= 22.
= unknown.
Aristida divaricata
Aristida tuberculosa
Aristida divaricata grows on dry hills and plains, especially in pinyon-juniper-grassland zones, from the southwestern United States through Mexico to Guatemala. It occasionally intergrades with A. havardii, but that species has lemma beaks that are straight or have only 1-2 twists, shorter primary branches, usually no secondary branches, and pedicels that more frequently have axillary pulvini so the spikelets are more frequently divergent than in A. divaricata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Aristida tuberculosa grows in sandy fields, hills, pinelands, and disturbed areas. Along the Atlantic coastal fringe, it grows on maritime dunes; inland it is associated with xeric pine-oak sandhills. It is generally similar to A. desmantha, but has longer glumes, calluses, and awns. Like A. desmantha, A. tuberculosa is restricted to the United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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