Aristida longespica |
Aristida gypsophila |
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Kearney's three-awn, red three-awn, slender three-awn, slimspike threeawn, southeastern slim-spike three-awn |
gypsum threeawn |
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Habit | Plants annual. | Plants perennial. | ||||
Culms | 15-65 cm, erect to spreading, often geniculate-based, sometimes nearly prostrate, usually much-branched. |
45-80 cm, erect, usually unbranched. |
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Leaves | cauline; sheaths shorter than the internodes, not disintegrating into threadlike fibers at maturity, glabrous or sparsely pilose, hairs on the throat sometimes to 5 mm; collars glabrous; ligules about 0.5 mm; blades 5-14 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, light green. |
basal and cauline; sheaths longer than the internodes, glabrous except at the summit; collars densely pilose, hairs 1-3 mm, cobwebby and tangled, often deflexed; ligules less than 0.5 mm; blades 5-15 cm long, about 0.5 mm wide, usually involute, occasionally loosely folded, glabrous, light green. |
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Inflorescences | usually paniculate, occasionally racemose or spicate, 6-22 cm long, 1-4(6) cm wide; nodes glabrous or with straight hairs, hairs to 0.3 mm; primary branches 1-4 cm, appressed to erect, rarely somewhat spreading distally, without axillary pulvini, with 2-5 spikelets per branch. |
paniculate, 12-20 cm long, 2-8 cm wide; primary branches 2-5 cm, erect to horizontal, with or without axillary pulvini, with 1-5 spikelets. |
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Spikelets | widely spaced to crowded. |
appressed or with axillary pulvini and spreading. |
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Glumes | 2-11 mm, subequal, 1-veined, acuminate, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm; calluses less than 1 mm; lemmas 2.5-10 mm, gray to dark purplish-brown, often horizontally banded or mottled, scabrous-hispid or glabrous, not beaked, apices only slightly narrowed, junction with the awns not evident; awns usually unequal, terete and curving up to 100° at the base, erect to reflexed distally, not disarticulating at maturity; central awns 1-27 mm; lateral awns absent or to 18 mm, shorter than the central awns; anthers 1 and 0.2-0.3 mm, or 3 and 3-4 mm. |
6-10(12) mm, equal or the lower glumes slightly shorter, 1-veined, brownish; calluses about 0.5 mm; lemmas (6)7-14(16) mm, mostly smooth, mottled, terminating in a 2-4 mm, usually twisted, scabrous beak; central awns 5-10 mm, sharply curved at the base, spreading distally; lateral awns absent or to 3 mm, erect; anthers 3, about 1.5 mm, brown. |
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Caryopses | 3-4 mm, light brown. |
5-8 mm. |
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2n | = unknown. |
= unknown. |
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Aristida longespica |
Aristida gypsophila |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; ON
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TX |
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Discussion | Aristida longespica grows along roadsides and in waste places, sandy fields, and clearings in pine and oak woods of southern Ontario and the eastern and central United States. The two varieties have a similar geographic range and are often found growing together. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Aristida gypsophila grows on rocky limestone or gypsum hills in thorn-scrub communities of the Chihuahuan Desert, almost always growing in the protection of shrubs. It is very similar to A. pansa, which differs in having three well-developed awns and being, usually, shorter in stature. Both species have involute blades with a characteristic tuft of cobwebby hairs at the collar. Plants from the United States have spreading primary branches with axillary pulvini and appressed spikelets. Mexican plants sometimes have primary branches with no axillary pulvini. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 328. | FNA vol. 25, p. 326. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida | Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Poir. | Beetle | ||||
Web links |
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