General: Perennial, strongly tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems hollow, minutely rough, mostly (15) 20-40 cm tall.
Leaves: Sheaths open; blades 1-2 mm wide, 7-25 cm long, in-rolled, minutely rough; ligules scarcely 0.5 mm long, membranous, the frontal margins with hairs 2-3 mm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence a narrow panicle, 5-10 cm long, the branches mostly loosely ascending; lower glumes 7-13 mm long, about 1/2 the length of the upper ones, awn-tipped; florets 10-15 mm long, the calluses flattened, about 1 mm long; lemma awns (4) 5-8 cm long, 3-branched, the lateral branches divergent; paleas 2-2.5 mm long, slightly surpassed by the lodicules.
Dry grasslands, shrublands and forest openings in the steppe and lower montane zones; frequent in SC BC, less frequent eastward in S BC; E to SW MB and S to LA, TX, NM, AZ and CA.
Ecological Framework for Aristida purpurea var. longiseta
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
