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Florida threeawn, key west threeawn

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose.
Culms

70-100 cm, erect, mostly unbranched.

Leaves

cauline;

sheaths mostly longer than the internodes, mostly glabrous, summit with hairs;

collars mostly glabrous, sides usually with straight or wrinkled hairs;

ligules 0.2-0.3 mm;

blades 30-55 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, pale yellow-green, loosely involute, lax, glabrous abaxially, with scattered hairs adaxially.

Inflorescences

paniculate, 30-45 cm long, 5-25 cm wide, oblong to ovate;

primary branches single or paired, ascending and somewhat lax to stiffly divergent, with weakly developed axillary pulvini, spikelet-bearing to the base;

lowermost branches to 15 cm.

Spikelets

mostly appressed.

Glumes

purplish-tinged, 1-veined;

lower glumes 10-14 mm;

upper glumes 8-9 mm;

calluses 0.5-0.7 mm;

lemmas 8-12 mm, gray mottled with purple or dark patches, narrowing to a slightly curved and twisted beak, junction with the awns not strongly marked;

awns not disarticulating at maturity;

central awns 10-25 mm, falcate;

lateral awns absent;

anthers 3, about 1 mm, brown.

Caryopses

6-7 mm, chestnut-colored.

2n

= unknown.

Aristida floridana

Distribution
from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Aristida floridana grows in waste places, along road-sides, and on railroad embankments. It is rare in the United States, being known only from Key West and Ramrod Key, Florida. It is more common in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, where it intergrades with Aristida ternipes.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 321.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida
Sibling taxa
A. adscensionis, A. arizonica, A. basiramea, A. californica, A. condensata, A. desmantha, A. dichotoma, A. divaricata, A. gypsophila, A. gyrans, A. havardii, A. lanosa, A. longespica, A. mohrii, A. oligantha, A. palustris, A. pansa, A. patula, A. purpurascens, A. purpurea, A. ramosissima, A. rhizomophora, A. schiedeana, A. simpliciflora, A. spiciformis, A. stricta, A. ternipes, A. tuberculosa
Name authority (Chapm.) Vasey
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