Aristida oligantha

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Poales

Familia: Poaceae
Subfamilia: Aristidoideae
Tribus: Aristideae
Genus: Aristida
Species: Aristida oligantha
Name

Aristida oligantha Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 41 (1803).
Synonyms

Homotypic
Chaetaria oligantha (Michx.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr.: 30, 158 (1812).
Chaetaria olygantha (Michx.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr.: 30 (1812).
Heterotypic
Aristida pallens Nutt., Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 57 (1818), nom. nud.
Aristida micropoda Trin. & Rupr., Sp. Gram. Stipac.: 107 (1842).
Aristida macrochaeta Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 134 (1854).
Aristida pauciflora Buckley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 14: 92 (1862 publ. 1863).
Aristida oligantha var. nervata Beal, Grass. N. Amer. 2: 202 (1896).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Northern America
Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; British Columbia; California; Connecticut; Delaware; District of Columbia; Florida; Georgia; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Masachusettes; Mexico Northeast; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Ontario; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode I.; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Vermont; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Michaux, A. 1803. Flora Boreali-Americana: sistens caracteres plantarum quas in America septentrionali collegit et detexit Andreas Michaux. Vol. 1. Parisiis et Argentorati: fratres Levrault. BHL Reference page. : 1. 41.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Aristida oligantha in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Dec 16. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Aristida oligantha. Published online. Accessed: Dec 16 2019.
Tropicos.org 2019. Aristida oligantha. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 16 Dec 2019.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Aristida oligantha in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.

Vernacular names
English: prairie threeawn

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

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

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