Aristida | |
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Purple three-awn, Aristida purpurea | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Aristidoideae |
Tribe: | Aristideae |
Genus: | Aristida L. |
Type species | |
Aristida adscensionis | |
Synonyms [3] | |
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Aristida is a very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. [4] [5] Aristida is distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. [6] The genus includes about 300 species found worldwide, often in arid warm regions. This genus is among those colloquially called three-awns wiregrasses, speargrasses and needlegrasses. [7] [8] [9] The name Aristida is derived from the Latin "arista", meaning "awn". [10]
They are characteristic of semiarid grassland. The Wiregrass Region of North America is named for A. stricta . Other locales where this genus is an important component of the ecosystem include the Carolina Bays, the sandhills of the Carolinas, and elsewhere, Mulga scrub in Australia, and the xeric grasslands around Lake Turkana in Africa. Local increases in the abundance of wiregrasses is a good indicator of overgrazing, as livestock avoid them.
Aristida stems are ascending to erect, with both basal and cauline leaves. The leaves may be flat or inrolled, and the basal leaves may be tufted. The inflorescences may be either panicle-like or raceme-like, with spiky branches. The glumes of a spikelet are narrow lanceolate, usually without any awns, while the lemmas are hard, three-veined, and have the three awns near the tip. The awns may be quite long; in A. purpurea var. longiseta they may be up to 10 cm.
Selected species include:
Saccharum is a genus of tall perennial plants of the broomsedge tribe within the grass family.
Stachys is a genus of plants, one of the largest in the mint family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 300, to about 450. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae and its type species is Stachys sylvatica. The precise extent of the genus and its relationship to other genera in the subfamily are poorly known.
Aristida stricta is a warm-season grass, native to North America, that dominates understory vegetation in sandhills and flatwoods coastal plain ecosystems of the Carolinas in the Southeastern United States. It is known as wiregrass and pineland three-awn grass.
Festuca (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae. They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of 10–200 cm (4–79 in) and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. The genus is closely related to ryegrass (Lolium), and recent evidence from phylogenetic studies using DNA sequencing of plant mitochondrial DNA shows that the genus lacks monophyly. As a result, plant taxonomists have moved several species, including the forage grasses tall fescue and meadow fescue, from the genus Festuca into the genus Lolium, or alternatively into the segregate genus Schedonorus.
Triglochin is a plant genus in the family Juncaginaceae described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It includes 25 known species. It is very nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, with species on every continent except Antarctica. North America has four accepted species, two of which can also be found in Europe: Triglochin palustris and Triglochin maritima. Australia has many more.
Wiregrass is a common name for several plants
Xyris is a genus of flowering plants, the yelloweyed grasses, in the yellow-eyed-grass family. The genus counts over 250 species, widespread over much of the world, with the center of distribution in the Guianas.
Anthoxanthum, commonly known as hornworts, vernal grasses, or vernalgrasses, is a genus of plants in the grass family. The generic name means 'Yellow flower' in Botanical Latin, referring to the colour of the mature spikelets.
Prenanthes is a genus of plant in the family Asteraceae, often referred to as rattlesnake root.
Uniola is a genus of New World plants in the grass family.
Olax is a plant genus in the family Olacaceae. The name derives from the Latin, olax (malodorous), and refers to the unpleasant scent of some of the Olax species. Olax is an Old World genus represented by several climbers, some species have leaves and fruits smelling of garlic such as Olax subscorpioidea and Olax gambecola, seeds of the latter are used as condiments in parts of West Africa. In India Olax nana is well known as one of the first species to emerge after forest fires, the shoots growing directly from buried roots.
Aristida purpurea is a species of grass native to North America which is known by the common name purple three-awn.
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.
Aristida behriana is a native Australian species of grass commonly known as bunch wire grass or brush wire grass. It is a bright green perennial plant forming short, tufted tussocks up to 40 centimetres (16 in) high. Its seeds have three long, radiating awns; it is a member of genus Aristida, grasses known commonly as three-awns. The species favours low fertility and well-drained soils. It is commonly found in mallee woodlands and plains, where it grows on sunny slopes. Superficially, the flower heads resemble those of the invasive weed African feather-grass. A. behriana is found in all mainland Australian States.
Nardus is a genus of plants belonging to the grass family, containing the single species Nardus stricta, known as matgrass. It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily Pooideae. The name derives from ancient Greek nardos from the earlier Akkadian lardu. It is not to be confused with spikenard, Nardostachys jatamansi.
Aristida rufescens is a grass species native to Madagascar and to Mayotte in the Comoros archipelago. It was described by German agrostologist Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel in 1854.
Aristida basiramea, the forked three-awn, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae native to North America. The specific epithet basiramea means "branching from base".
Aristida dichotoma, known as churchmouse threeawn, fork-tip three-awn, pigbutt three-awn, and poverty grass, is a species of grass from eastern North America. It is native to the Eastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada. It has been introduced in California. It was described in 1803 by André Michaux.
Aristida calycina, commonly known as dark wiregrass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae that is native in Australia.