Flora of North America species comparison

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Aristida purpurea var. nealleyi

Aristida purpurea var. fendleriana
Photo is of parent taxon

blue threeawn, Nealley three-awn, Nealley's threeawn, Reverchon three awn
Photo is of parent taxon

Fendler three-awn, Fendler's threeawn
Culms

20-45 cm.

10-40 cm.
Leaves

mostly cauline;

blades 4-10 cm, involute.
Blades

5-15 cm, mostly basal, involute.

Panicles

8-18(20) cm;

primary branches and pedicels mostly appressed to narrowly ascending, without axillary pulvini, stiff, straight, lower branches occasionally flexible.

3-14(15) cm;

primary branches mostly appressed, stiff, straight, without axillary pulvini, with few spikelets.
Glumes

usually unequal;

lower glumes 4-7 mm;

upper glumes (7)8-14 mm;

lemmas 7-13 mm long, narrowing to about 0.1 mm wide, upper portion sometimes twisted;

awns 15-22(30) mm long, subequal, about 0.1 mm wide at the base.

Lower glumes

5-8 mm;

upper glumes 10-15 mm;

lemmas 8-14 mm long, apices 0.2-0.3 wide;

awns subequal, 18-40 mm long, occasionally slightly longer, 0.2-0.3 mm wide at the base.
2n

= 22, 44.

= 22, 44.

Aristida purpurea var. nealleyi

Aristida purpurea var. fendleriana
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IL; KS; NM; NV; OK; TX; UT; VT
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Aristida purpurea var. nealleyi grows on dry slopes and plains at lower elevations than the other varieties, frequently in desert grassland vegetation. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into Mexico. Although var. nealleyi is more distinct than the other varieties, having tight tufts of foliage exceeded by narrow, straw-colored panicles, it grades into var. purpurea, and the panicles resemble those of var. wrightii. It may also be confused with A. arizonica, but differs in having involute, generally straight leaf blades and shorter awns.

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

Aristida purpurea var. fendleriana grows on open slopes, hills, and sandy flats, at low to medium elevations, from the western United States into northern Mexico. It is often confused with var. longiseta, having short basal leaves and short panicles, but plants of var. fendleriana have narrower lemma apices and thinner, shorter awns than those of var. longiseta.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 333. FNA vol. 25, p. 332.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida > Aristida purpurea Poaceae > subfam. Aristidoideae > tribe Aristideae > Aristida > Aristida purpurea
Sibling taxa
A. purpurea var. fendleriana, A. purpurea var. longiseta, A. purpurea var. parishii, A. purpurea var. perplexa, A. purpurea var. purpurea, A. purpurea var. wrightii
A. purpurea var. longiseta, A. purpurea var. nealleyi, A. purpurea var. parishii, A. purpurea var. perplexa, A. purpurea var. purpurea, A. purpurea var. wrightii
Synonyms A. purpurea var. glauca, A. glauca A. fendleriana
Name authority (Vasey) Allred (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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