Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Aristida stricta
FAMILY
Poaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Wiregrass is NC's only three-awn whose leaf blades are not flat (except at the very base). Learn more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
The conversion of vast acreages of former pinelands to agriculture, pine tree farms, and developed areas has taken its toll over the years. In the twentieth century, suppression of fire has also led to the destruction of A. stricta. More recently, pine-straw raking is leading to the serious decline of A. stricta in its few remaining strongholds on public lands. A. stricta has little tolerance for ground disturbance. Read more in Weakley's Flora.
Wiregrass is the single most important component of the longleaf pine ecosystem, due to its abundance and ability to carry low-temperature fire through the community. Read more in Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011).
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Aristida stricta
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25 (2003)
Aristida stricta
SYNONYMOUS WITH New Combinations in the Florida Flora (DB Ward, 2001)
Aristida stricta var. stricta
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-38-005:
Aristida stricta FAMILY Poaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aristida stricta
COMMON NAME:
Carolina Wiregrass, Pineland Three-awn
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950 pnd_arst5_002_lvd
Once the keystone species of much of the upland Coastal Plain of the Carolinas, per Weakley's Flora (2022).
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Alan S. Weakley asw_952516789109521
May Cumberland County NC
Carvers Creek State Park
)
Tim Spira tps_astricta
July
Leaves semievergreen, very narrow, folded longways so they're wiry, upright, per Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020).
)
JK Marlow jkm161001_790
October Chesterfield County SC
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Plant forming dense tussocks; leaves primarily basal & usually very numerous, per Weakley's Flora (2015).
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JK Marlow jkm161001_793
September Chesterfield County SC
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Awns divergent, the central 1-1.5cm long, the lateral a little shorter, per Manual of the Grasses of the United States (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950).
)
JK Marlow jkm161001_864
September Chesterfield County SC
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Aristida stricta
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Aristida stricta
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25
Aristida stricta
SYNONYMOUS WITH
New Combinations in the Florida Flora (DB Ward, 2001)
Aristida stricta var. stricta
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-38-005:
Aristida stricta
FAMILY
Poaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Aristida stricta
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aristida stricta
125
Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial
Habitat: Coastal Plain pinelands of nearly all sorts, ranging from the driest white-sand sandhills to seasonally saturated pine savannas dominated by a mixture of longleaf pine and pond pine, largely or entirely replaced in the wettest savannas by Sporobolus teretifolius, S. pinetorum, Calmovilfa brevipilis, Muhlenbergia expansa, and Ctenium aromaticum; also in Piedmont areas adjacent to the Coastal Plain and formerly supporting fire-maintained longleaf pine woodlands, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas
Common in Carolina Coastal Plain, rare in Piedmont
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Mostly basal
RHIZOMES? STOLONS?
Cespitose [growing in dense tufts, clumping]
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Panicle brownish
Inflorescence a panicle
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Grain yellow
Grain
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p174
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p289
- Manual of the Grasses of the United States (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950) p478
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p410
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p094
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