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s-curve threeawn

Habit Plants annual.
Culms

20-60 cm, wiry.

Leaves

cauline;

sheaths usually shorter than the internodes, mostly glabrous, sparsely hairy near the summit;

collars hispidulous, occasionally glabrous;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;

blades 3-22 cm long, to 2 mm wide, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, sparsely pilose adaxially, without a prominent midrib but with a thickened vein near each margin, pale to gray-green, sometimes slightly glaucous.

Inflorescences

paniculate or racemose, 5-12 cm long, 2-4 cm wide;

primary branches barely developed.

Spikelets

appressed to slightly divergent from the axillary pulvini.

Glumes

subequal, apices bifid, awned from the sinuses;

lower glumes (9)11-16 mm, 3-7-veined, awns 0.5-2(4) mm;

upper glumes 11-18 mm, 1-3-veined, awns 3-7 mm;

calluses 0.4-1 mm;

lemmas (8)15-20(22) mm, dark, occasionally banded or spotted, apices narrowed but not beaklike;

central awns 12-25 mm, bases with a semicircular bend;

lateral awns 1-4 mm, erect, occasionally lacking;

anthers 3, about 3 mm, brown.

Caryopses

9-11 mm, dark brown to black.

2n

= unknown.

Aristida rhizomopbora

Aristida ramosissima

Distribution
from FNA
AR; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OH; OK; TN; TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Aristida ramosissima grows in open, dry, sterile ground, fallow fields, and roadsides. It is restricted to the United States.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 326.
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. pansa, A. patula, A. purpurascens, A. purpurea, A. ramosissima, A. rhizomophora, A. schiedeana, A. simpliciflora, A. spiciformis, A. stricta, A. ternipes, A. tuberculosa
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. pansa, A. patula, A. purpurascens, A. purpurea, A. rhizomophora, A. schiedeana, A. simpliciflora, A. spiciformis, A. stricta, A. ternipes, A. tuberculosa
Synonyms A. ramosissima var. chaseana
Name authority Engelm. ex A. Gray
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