Aristidoideae

Aristida stipoides, copyright Roger and Alison Heath.

Belongs within: Poaceae.
Contains: Aristida section Chaetaria.

The Aristidoideae, wiregrasses, are a group of relatively narrow-leaved grasses most commonly found in dry, open habitats.

Characters (from 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]
    |--Sartidia GPWG01
    |--Stipagrostis GPWG01
    |    |--S. damarensis CV06
    |    |--S. garubensis CV06
    |    |--S. gonatostachys CV06
    |    |--S. hermannii CV06
    |    |--S. lanipes CV06
    |    |--S. namibensis CV06
    |    |--S. pellytronis CV06
    |    |--S. plumosa AGF98
    |    |--S. pogonoptila PP07
    |    |--S. ramulosa CV06
    |    |--S. sabulicola CV06
    |    |--S. seelyae CV06
    |    |--S. uniplumus CS77
    |    |--S. vulnerans AGF98
    |    `--S. zeyheri GPWG01
    `--Aristida GPWG01
         |  i. s.: A. adscensionis PP07
         |           |--A. a. var. adscensionis S06
         |           |--A. a. var. breviseta Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
         |           |--A. a. var. coerulescens S06
         |           |    |  i. s.: A. a. var. c. f. modestina Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
         |           |    |--A. a. var. c. subvar. coerulescens S06
         |           |    `--A. a. var. c. subvar. condensata S06
         |           |--A. a. var. laevis S06
         |           |--A. a. var. modesta S06
         |           `--A. a. var. scabriflora S06
         |         A. arizonica GPWG01
         |         A. basiramea V72
         |         A. californica H93
         |         A. congesta GPWG01
         |           |--A. c. ssp. congesta GPWG01
         |           `--A. c. ssp. barbicollis GPWG01
         |         A. dichotoma V72
         |         A. divaricata H93
         |         A. exserta LK14
         |         A. funiculata PP07
         |         A. holathera LK14
         |         A. inaequiglumis LK14
         |         A. ingrata LK14
         |         A. kimberleyensis LK14
         |         A. longispica V72
         |           |--A. l. var. longispica V72
         |           `--A. l. var. geniculata [incl. A. intermedia] V72
         |         A. mendocina [incl. A. cordobensis] S06
         |         A. murina [=A. pallens var. murina Trin. 1849] S06
         |         A. mutabilis PP07
         |         A. necopina V72
         |         A. oligantha H93
         |         A. orcuttiana H93
         |         A. pallens S06
         |           |--A. p. var. pallens S06
         |           |--A. p. var. intermedia S06
         |           |--A. p. var. macrochaeta Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
         |           `--A. p. var. tenuifolia S06
         |         A. perniciosa LK14
         |         A. pruinosa LK14
         |         A. purpurascens V72
         |         A. purpurea GPWG01
         |           |--A. p. var. purpurea GPWG01
         |           |--A. p. var. fendleriana H93
         |           |--A. p. var. longiseta GPWG01
         |           |--A. p. var. nealleyi [incl. A. glauca] H93
         |           |--A. p. var. parishii H93
         |           `--A. p. var. wrightii H93
         |         A. setacea S03
         |         A. setifolia S06
         |         A. spegazzinii S06
         |           |--A. s. var. spegazzinii S06
         |           |--A. s. var. abbreviata S06
         |           `--A. s. var. pallescens S06
         |         A. spiciformis M83
         |         A. stricta CS90
         |         A. ternipes H93
         |           |--A. t. var. ternipes H93
         |           `--A. t. var. hamulosa H93
         |         A. tuberculosa V72
         |--A. sect. Arthratherum B78
         |    |--A. arenaria [=Arthratherum arenarium; incl. Ari. contorta Muell. 1855] B78
         |    |--A. hygrometrica B78
         |    `--A. stipoides B78
         `--A. sect. Chaetaria B78

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AGF98] Abd El-Ghani, M. M., & A. G. Fahmy. 1998. Composition of and changes in the spontaneous flora of Feiran Oasis, S Sinai, Egypt, in the last 60 years. Willdenowia 28: 123–134.

[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.

[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.