POACEAE

Aristida purpurea

Common Name:  Purple Three-awn

Go to BIO 406D homepage

Aristida purpurea fruits3.jpg (37418 bytes) Aristida purpurea fruits4.jpg (47839 bytes)
fruits--the fruits of Aristida have three long awns at their tips (you can see this on the fruits near the tip of this stem), giving members of this genus the common name three-awn grass more fruits--before these fruits matured, the inflorescence was purple (and thus the specific epithet purpurea)
Aristida purpurea habit3.jpg (120523 bytes)  
habit--Aristida purpurea is a perennial bunchgrass