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Wooton threeawn, Wooton's threeawn

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose.
Culms

20-60(75) cm, erect, unbranched.

Leaves

basal and cauline;

sheaths usually 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 4-28 cm long, less than 1 mm wide, usually involute, infrequently flat, usually arcuate, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous or puberulent near the base, scabrous or puberulent distally.

Inflorescences

paniculate, 10-20 cm long, 3-10(12) cm wide;

rachis nodes usually glabrous, sometimes with straight, less than 0.3 mm hairs;

primary branches 2-11 cm, stiffly ascending to spreading, with axillary pulvini;

secondary branches and pedicels with or without pulvini;

terminal spikelets often divergent.

Spikelets

clustered on the distal 1/2 of the branches.

Glumes

equal or subequal, 1-veined, acuminate or awned, awns to 6 mm, brownish;

lower glumes 5-10 mm;

upper glumes 6-12 mm;

calluses 0.5-1 mm;

lemmas 7-13 mm, terminating in an obscure, narrow beak 1-4 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, junction with the base of the awns not evident;

awns 6-15 mm, not disarticulating at maturity, central and lateral awns similar in length and thickness, spreading to horizontal;

anthers 3, 1-3 mm, brown.

Caryopses

6-8 mm, tan.

2n

= unknown.

Aristida pansa

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Aristida pansa grows in desert scrub, commonly in the Chihuahuan Desert of the southwestern United States and Mexico, but its ecological range extends into the lower juniper zones and its geographic range to southern Mexico. It prefers cobbly to sandy, often gypsiferous soil. It is very similar to the single-awned A. gypsophila, but it has also been confused with A. purpurea var. perplexa, which differs in having reddish glumes of unequal length and longer ascending awns.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 324.
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. floridana, A. gypsophila, A. gyrans, A. havardii, A. lanosa, A. longespica, A. mohrii, A. oligantha, A. palustris, A. patula, A. purpurascens, A. purpurea, A. ramosissima, A. rhizomophora, A. schiedeana, A. simpliciflora, A. spiciformis, A. stricta, A. ternipes, A. tuberculosa
Synonyms A. pansa var. dissita
Name authority Wooton & Standi.
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