Aristida purpurea var. perplexa
Aristida purpurea var. parishii
Jornada threeawn, purple threeawn
Parish three-awn, Parish's threeawn
30-65 cm.
20-50 cm.
mostly cauline;
blades more than 10 cm, loosely involute to flat.
8-20 cm, involute.
8-20 cm;
primary branches stiff, lower branches diverging or divaricate, with axillary pulvini, upper branches usually strongly divergent, sometimes ascending;
pedicels often with axillary pulvini;
terminal spikelets usually appressed.
15-24 cm;
primary branches stiff, lower branches strongly divergent to divaricate, with axillary pulvini, upper branches appressed to ascending, without axaillary pulvini, lower nodes associated with 8-18 spikelets.
reddish;
lower glumes (4.5)5-7(7.5) mm, 1/2 - 2/3 as long as the upper glumes;
upper glumes 8-11(12) mm;
lemmas (8)10-12(13) mm long, narrowing to 0.1-0.2 mm wide;
awns subequal, (13)18-30 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide.
red or dark at anthesis, fading to stramineous;
lower glumes 7-11 mm, 3/4 as long as to equaling the upper glumes;
upper glumes 10-15 mm;
lemmas 10-13 mm long, narrowing to 0.2-0.3 mm wide near the apex;
awns subequal, 20-30 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm wide at the base.
= unknown.
= unknown.
Aristida purpurea var. perplexa
Aristida purpurea var. parishii
Aristida purpurea var. perplexa grows in sandy to rocky plains and on mesas in desert grassland and scrub communities, often in calcareous soils, in both the Flora region and Mexico. It is sometimes confused with A. pansa, which differs in having cobwebby hairs at the collar, equal glumes, and shorter awns.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Aristida purpurea var. parishii grows on sandy plains and hills of the southwestern United States and Baja California, Mexico. In many respects it is intermediate between A. purpurea and other species of Aristida with spreading panicle branches, especially A. ternipes var. gentilis. Its spikelets are indistinguishable from those of var. wrightii, but var. parishii frequently has axillary pulvini associated with the lower branches. The two also differ in their phenology: var. parishii flowers from March through May in response to winter rains, whereas var. wrightii flowers from May through October in response to summer rains.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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