Flora of North America species comparison

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Aristida purpurea var. longiseta
Photo is of parent taxon

Fendler threeawn, red three-awn
Culms

10-40(50) cm.
Leaves

sometimes mostly basal, sometimes mostly cauline;

blades 4-16 cm, usually involute.
Panicles

5-15 cm;

primary branches appressed or ascending at the base, without axillary pulvini, stout and straight to delicate and drooping distally, usually neither flexible nor tangled.
Lower glumes

8-12 mm;

upper glumes (14)16-25 mm;

lemmas 12-16 mm long, apices 0.3-0.8 mm wide;

awns subequal, 40-100(140) mm long, 0.2-0.5 mm wide at the base.
2n

= 22, 44, 66, 88.

Aristida purpurea var. longiseta
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; KS; LA; MN; MT; NC; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SC; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Aristida purpurea var. longiseta grows on sandy or rocky slopes and plains, and in barren soils of disturbed ground from western Canada to northern Mexico. It is the most variable variety of Aristida purpurea, ranging from short plants with basal leaves and short panicles suggestive of var. fendleriana, to tall plants with long cauline leaves and long, drooping panicles resembling var. purpurea. The length of its glumes, width of its lemma apex, and the length and thickness of its awns distinguish it from all the other varieties. The callus and long, stiff awns are especially troublesome to sheep and cattle.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 332.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida > Aristida purpurea
Sibling taxa
A. purpurea var. fendleriana, A. purpurea var. nealleyi, A. purpurea var. parishii, A. purpurea var. perplexa, A. purpurea var. purpurea, A. purpurea var. wrightii
Synonyms A. purpurea var. robusta, A. longiseta var. robusta, A. longiseta
Name authority (Steud.) Vasey
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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