Belongs within: Poaceae.
Contains: Aristida adscensionis, Aristida section Chaetaria.
The Aristidoideae, wiregrasses, are a group of relatively narrow-leaved grasses most commonly found in dry, open habitats. The central awn-branch is plumose in species of the genus Stipagrostis but glabrous in Aristida. In species of Aristida section Arthratherum, the column of the awn articulates at the apex of the lemma (Gardner 1952).
Characters (Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2001): Plants annual or perennial, caespitose, herbaceous, xerophytic or less commonly mesophytic. Culms solid or hollow. Leaves distichous; abaxial ligule absent or present as a line of hairs; adaxial ligule a fringed membrane or a fringe of hairs; blades relatively narrow, without pseudopetioles, venation parallel; sheaths non-auriculate. Inflorescences paniculate, bracts outside of the spikelets absent. Spikelets with bisexual florets, glumes 2, female-fertile floret 1, and no rachilla extension, cylindrical or laterally compressed, disarticulating above the glumes; lemma with three awns, the awns separate from each other, or fused below into a twisted column; palea short, less than half the lemma length; lodicules present or rarely absent, when present 2, free, membranous, glabrous, heavily vascularized; stamens 1 to 3; ovary glabrous, apical appendage absent, haustorial synergids absent, styles 2, free, close, stigmas 2. Caryopsis with the hilum short or long-linear; endosperm hard, without lipid, containing compound starch grains; embryo small or large, epiblast absent, scutellar cleft present or absent, mesocotyl internode elongated, embryonic leaf margins meeting. Basic chromosome numbers: x = 11, 12.
Aristidoideae [Aristideae]
|--SartidiaGPWG01
|--StipagrostisGPWG01
| |--S. damarensisCV06
| |--S. garubensisCV06
| |--S. gonatostachysCV06
| |--S. hermanniiCV06
| |--S. lanipesCV06
| |--S. namibensisCV06
| |--S. pellytronisCV06
| |--S. plumosaAGF98
| |--S. pogonoptilaPP07
| |--S. ramulosaCV06
| |--S. sabulicolaCV06
| |--S. seelyaeCV06
| |--S. uniplumusCS77
| |--S. vulneransAGF98
| `--S. zeyheriGPWG01
`--AristidaGPWG01
| i. s.: A. adscensionisS06
| A. aristidisD17
| |--A. a. var. aristidisD17
| `--A. a. var. chudaei Batt. & Trab. 1906D17
| A. arizonicaGPWG01
| A. basirameaV72
| A. brachyatheraD17
| A. californicaH93
| A. ciliataD17
| A. congestaGPWG01
| |--A. c. ssp. congestaGPWG01
| `--A. c. ssp. barbicollisGPWG01
| A. dichotomaV72
| A. divaricataH93
| A. exsertaLK14
| A. funiculataPP07
| A. hoggariensis Batt. & Trab. 1906D17
| A. holatheraLK14
| A. ingrataLK14
| A. kimberleyensisLK14
| A. longispicaV72
| |--A. l. var. longispicaV72
| `--A. l. var. geniculata [incl. A. intermedia]V72
| A. mendocina [incl. A. cordobensis]S06
| A. murina [=A. pallens var. murina Trin. 1849]S06
| A. mutabilisPP07
| A. necopinaV72
| A. obtusaD17
| A. oliganthaH93
| A. orcuttianaH93
| A. pallensS06
| |--A. p. var. pallensS06
| |--A. p. var. intermediaS06
| |--A. p. var. macrochaeta Hackel in Stuckert 1906S06
| |--A. p. var. tenuicula Hackel in Stuckert 1906S06
| `--A. p. var. tenuifoliaS06
| A. perniciosaLK14
| A. plumosa [incl. A. floccosa]D17
| A. pungensD17
| A. purpurascensV72
| A. purpureaGPWG01
| |--A. p. var. purpureaGPWG01
| |--A. p. var. fendlerianaH93
| |--A. p. var. longisetaGPWG01
| |--A. p. var. nealleyi [incl. A. glauca]H93
| |--A. p. var. parishiiH93
| `--A. p. var. wrightiiH93
| A. sahelicaD17
| A. setaceaS03
| A. setifoliaS06
| A. spegazziniiS06
| |--A. s. var. spegazziniiS06
| |--A. s. var. abbreviataS06
| `--A. s. var. pallescensS06
| A. spiciformisM83
| A. strictaCS90
| A. ternipesH93
| |--A. t. var. ternipesH93
| `--A. t. var. hamulosaH93
| A. tuberculosaV72
|--A. sect. ArthratherumB78
| |--A. arenaria Gaud. 1826G52 [=Arthratherum arenariumB78; incl. Ari. contorta Muell. 1855B78]
| | |--A. a. var. arenariaG52
| | `--A. a. var. hirsutaG52
| |--A. browniana Henr. 1926 [incl. A. muelleri, A. stipoides]G52
| `--A. hygrometrica Br. 1810G52
`--A. sect. ChaetariaB78
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
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[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.
[CS90] Corey, D. T., & I. J. Stout. 1990. Ground surface arachnids in sandhill communities of Florida. Journal of Arachnology 18: 167–172.
[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.
[D17] Diels, L. 1917. Beiträge zur Flora der Zentral-Sahara und ihrer Pflanzengeographie. Nach der Sammelausbeute des Freiherrn Hans Geyr von Schweppenburg. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 54 (Beiblatt 120): 51–155.
[G52] Gardner, C. A. 1952. Flora of Western Australia vol. 1 pt 1. Gramineae. William H. Wyatt: Perth.
[GPWG01] Grass Phylogeny Working Group. 2001. Phylogeny and subfamilial classification of the grasses (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88 (3): 373–457.
[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).
[M83] Myers, R. L. 1983. Site susceptibility to invasion by the exotic tree Melaleuca quinquenervia in southern Florida. Journal of Applied Ecology 20: 645–658.
[PP07] Pandey, R. P., & P. M. Padhye. 2007. Studies on phytodiversity of Arid Machia Safari Park-Kailana in Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 15–78.
[S03] Singh, J. N. 2003. Grasses and their hydro-edaphic characteristics in the grassland habitat of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 143–164.
[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 409–555.
[V72] Voss, E. G. 1972. Michigan Flora. Part I. Gymnosperms and Monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium.