Aristida simpliciflora Chapm.:
United States (North America)

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Clay, Liberty, Franklin, Nassau, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, counties, Florida; Forrest and Pearl River counties, Mississippi; Baldwin county, Alabama; North Carolina; historic in Georgia.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spi kelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 3 awns, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Sty les 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Glumes 6 to 7 mm long; spikelets mostly in pairs.

Isotype for Aristida simpliciflora Chapm.
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): A. Chapman
Locality: Florida, United States, North America
Microhabitat: Damp pine barrens.

Comments: Sandhills, wet to mesic flatwoods, longleaf pine-wiregrass savannas, seepage slopes, and associated ecotones.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

Comments: Seventeen element occurrences in Florida (as of 1999); two extant and one historical record (Pearl River county) in Mississippi; historically found in Georgia; also extant in Alabama and North Carolina (numbers needed).

Fruit surmounted by long awn. Several species known to be wind dispersed, consumed by birds and mammals, dispersed by ants, or awn can adhere to animals.

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Known only from northern Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina and considered extremely rare or extirpated everywhere but in Florida. Surveys by Sorri, LeBlond, and Chafin in North Florida in 1999 confirmed the presence of this species at almost every habitat searched. Plants are hard to see and difficult to separate from wire grass and other Aristida species; plants are more abundant and widespread than previously thought. The species' longleaf pine-wiregrass habitat has been reduced by as much as 90% from its original extent due to conversion to pine plantations and development. Fire suppression has also contributed to the loss of suitable, open-canopy habitat.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Comments: Habitat has been convereted to pine plantations and developments. Widespread fire suppression destroys habitat for this species.

Biological Research Needs: Surveys needed in other southeastern states.