Aristida longespicaPoir.

slimspike threeawn

WFO wfo-1000048026 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Aristida longespica, photographed by Dan Johnson
fig. a Dan Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-10-31 / obs. 102650131
Aristida longespica, photographed by Chris Hoess
fig. b Chris Hoess, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 156782255
Aristida longespica, photographed by Chris Hoess
fig. c Chris Hoess, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 54486620
Aristida longespica, photographed by Will McFarland
fig. d Will McFarland, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 26685565
Aristida longespica, photographed by Will McFarland
fig. e Will McFarland, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 26685583
Aristida longespica, photographed by Dan Johnson
fig. f Dan Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102650144
Aristida longespica, photographed by Dan Johnson
fig. g Dan Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102650140
Aristida longespica, photographed by aarongunnar
fig. h aarongunnar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24429938

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 40 botanical countries

Regions where Aristida longespica is native: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin AlabamaArizonaArkansasColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico NortheastMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriNebraskaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaOntarioPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsin DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Aristida longespica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Northeast MXE
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Nebraska NEB
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 10 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aristida geniculata Raf.
  • Aristida gracilis Elliott
  • Aristida gracilis var. depauperata A.Gray
  • Aristida intermedia Scribn. & C.R.Ball
  • Aristida intermedia var. necopina (Shinners) Mohlenbr.
  • Aristida longespica var. geniculata (Raf.) Fernald
  • Aristida necopina Shinners
  • Aristida simpliciflora var. texana Vasey
  • Curtopogon gracilis Trin. & Rupr.
  • Trixostis gracilis Raf.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol ARLO16. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.