PRAIRIE THREEAWN
File Size: 153 KB
 
Aristida oligantha  Michx.
Carter County, Oklahoma
Annual
Height: 1 to 2 feet tall
Family: Poaceae - Grass Family
Flowering Period:   August, September,October
Also Called: Oldfield three-awn, wiregrass, ticklegrass.
Culms: Wiry, hollow, 12 to 24 inches tall, much branched at base, glabrous or slightly scabrous.
Blades: Flat or loosely involute, 1.5 to 8 inches long, less than .1 inch wide, tapering to fine point.
Sheaths: Loose, glabrous to slightly scabrous, often pilose at collar.
Ligules: Small, hairy.
Inflorescences: Panicle, loose, raceme-like, 4 to 8 inches long; axis often flexuous (zigzag); spikelets few, spreading.
Spikelets: Narrow, on very short pedicels, one-flowered; glumes taper to awn-like tips; second glume slightly longer than first; lemma tip three-awned; awns about equal in length, 1.5 to 2.75 inches long, spreading, often spirally curved at base.
Habitat: Open, dry waste ground, often in sandy soils.
Distribution: Eastern three quarters of Kansas.
Reproduction: Reproduces by seed.
Toxicity: The awns can cause mouth, nose and eye injury in livestock.
Forage Value: Prairie threeawn has no forage value.
Comments: Shallow-rooted. A common invader of overgrazed pastures. Prairie threeawn takes on a whitish hue when mature.
 Compare with purple threeawn and arrowfeather threeawn.
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