Aristida oligantha

Aristida oligantha
1950 illustration[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Aristida
Species:
A. oligantha
Binomial name
Aristida oligantha

Aristida oligantha is a species of grass known by the common names prairie threeawn, oldfield threeawn and ant rice.

It is native to the United States and southern Canada, and it is known from northern Mexico. It is a grass of many types of habitat, and it grows easily in dry areas with sandy or gravelly soils. It appears in disturbed and burned areas and is sometimes a weed of roadsides and railroads.

This is an annual forming clumps of branching gray-green and purple-tinted stems about 30 to 70 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is an open array of spikelets. The grain has three spreading awns, the central one reaching up to 7 centimeters long and the other two slightly shorter.

References

  1. ^ Illustration of Aristida oligantha from Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC. 1950