Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Aristida purpurea [Aristida purpurea var. fendleriana] [Aristida purpurea var. longiseta] etc.
- Family
- Poaceae
- CommonName
- purple three-awn, purple threeawn
- Presence
- yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1927
- LatestDate
- 2025
- Ecosystem
- basin, shrubland, foothill, urban
- Geobotanical
- SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- WildlifePreserves
- Baca
- Other Localities
- Del Norte
- Comments
- Purple three-awn is a common perennial, warm-season bunchgrass of lower elevations in the Watershed. Many varieties of Aristida purpurea have been named, although they seem to intergrade (Allred et al, 2020). The species ranges from alkali flats to the foothills. The three awns on each lemma and unequal glumes should distinguish it (the other Aristida in the Watershed, A. arizonica, has equal or nearly equal glumes). In the USA, the species is common in all states from the eastern Great Plains to the eastern slopes of the Sierras. In the Rio Grande drainage, it is a familiar grass all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Note that toward the end of full maturity, the three awns curl downward. The species epithet "purpurea" refers to the purplish cast of the glumes and the grains.
- Annotation