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Origin: Native Season: Cool and Warm
Habitat Description: Grows throughout the world in dry grasslands, sandy woodlands, arid deserts, open weedy habitats and on rocky slopes and mesas.
Plant Communities:Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 3000 - 6500 feet
Similar Species: Aristide purpurea var. nealleyi
Desc:
Old leaves persistent at base of plant, stem nodes swollen or brittle, stems erect or ascending, stems tufted or clustered.
Identification Notes: Tufted perennial with narrow seedheads. Awns nearly equal, basal portions distinctly twisted. Glumes 1-nerved, nearly equal, first a little longer than the second. Distinguished from A. purpurea var. nealleyi by flat curly blades and longer awns.
Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: Y Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N
Height with Seedheads: 24 to 36 inches
Seedhead Structure: Branched - open and spreading Seedhead Droops: N
Flowering Period: May - Sep
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: One-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N
Awns: 1/4 inch to 1 inch Three Awns: Y Awns Bent: N
Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedhead is narrow, terminal, and compound. Seedhead stem 1 to 3 feet, not woody, sometimes branched above the base. The central awn is 1/2 inch long and the lateral awns are slightly shorter.
Blade Hairy:
N
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat
Blade Notes:
Leaves predominantly basal, blades are 4 to 12 inches long and 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches wide, usually flat, often curling like wood shavings when mature.
Sheath Hairy:
N
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
N
Ligules:
Hairy
Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
N
Forage Value:
Three awn grass species are generally classified as fair to poor forage. They green up after the spring rains more rapidly than most grasses and can be used heavily at this time. They are grazed lightly after more palatable grasses begin to grow.
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