Aristida purpureaNutt.

Democrat GrassPurple ThreeawnWiregrasspurple threeawn

WFO wfo-0000849253 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Aristida purpurea, photographed by Catherine C. Galley
fig. a Catherine C. Galley, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-28 / obs. 201688102
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Elliott Gordon
fig. b Elliott Gordon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199860237
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Dominic Gentilcore
fig. c Dominic Gentilcore, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160115780
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Bobby McCabe
fig. d Bobby McCabe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154806859
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Craig Martin
fig. e Craig Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 147166778
Aristida purpurea, photographed by lejones417
fig. f lejones417, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 141879879
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Cleveland Powell
fig. g Cleveland Powell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 136575722
Aristida purpurea, photographed by Parker Hopkins
fig. h Parker Hopkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 107505357

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 18 botanical countries

Regions where Aristida purpurea is native: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti ArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoKansasLouisianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestNevadaNew MexicoOklahomaTexasUtahCubaDominican RepublicHaiti
Native distribution of Aristida purpurea, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Arizona ARI NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
California CAL
Colorado COL
Kansas KAN
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Nevada NEV
New Mexico NWM
Oklahoma OKL
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Cuba CUB SOUTHERN AMERICA
Dominican Republic DOM
Haiti HAI

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 23 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 aequiramea Scheele
  • Aristida berlandieri (Trin. & Rupr.) Hitchc.
  • Aristida breviseta Buckley
  • Aristida brownii Warnock
  • Aristida eggersii Hitchc.
  • Aristida fasciculata var. californica (Vasey) L.H.Dewey
  • Aristida fasciculata var. hookeri (Trin. & Rupr.) L.H.Dewey
  • Aristida fasciculata var. micrantha (Vasey) L.H.Dewey
  • Aristida filipendula Buckley
  • Aristida longiseta var. hookeri (Trin. & Rupr.) Merr.
  • Aristida micrantha (Vasey) Nash
  • Aristida muhlenbergioides E.Fourn.
  • Aristida purpurea f. brownii (Warnock) Allred & Valdés-Reyna
  • Aristida purpurea var. aequiramea (Scheele) Merr.
  • Aristida purpurea var. berlandieri Trin. & Rupr.
  • Aristida purpurea var. californica Vasey
  • Aristida purpurea var. capillarifolia Merr.
  • Aristida purpurea var. hookeri Trin. & Rupr.
  • Aristida purpurea var. laxiflora Merr.
  • Aristida purpurea var. micrantha Vasey
  • Aristida purpurea var. perplexa Allred & Valdés-Reyna
  • Aristida purpurea var. purpurea
  • Aristida roemeriana Scheele

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.