Aristida purpurea

Aristida purpurea is a species of grass

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

 native to North America which is known by the common name purple three-awn. This grass is fairly widespread and can be found across the western two thirds of the United States, much of southern Canada and parts of northern Mexico. It is most abundant on the plains.
This is a perennial bunchgrass, growing erect to under a meter-3 feet in height, and the flower glumes

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

 often assume a light brown to reddish-purple color. There are several varieties with overlapping geographical ranges. This is not considered to be a good graze

Grazing

Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...

 for livestock because the awns are sharp and the protein content of the grass is low.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Ecology
• Grass Manual Treatment