Triplasis purpurea(Walter) Chapm.

purple sandgrass

WFO wfo-0000904704 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Cleveland Powell
fig. a Cleveland Powell, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-18 / obs. 158366289
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Cleveland Powell
fig. b Cleveland Powell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101772040
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. c Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 96075348
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. d Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 94541612
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. e Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 92371989
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by John Kees
fig. f John Kees, CC0 1.0 / obs. 165023755
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by John Michael
fig. g John Michael, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 98456507
Triplasis purpurea, photographed by Sam Kieschnick
fig. h Sam Kieschnick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 98460456

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Triplasis purpurea is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Southeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, Costa Rica, Honduras AlabamaArkansasColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMexico SoutheastMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriNebraskaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWisconsinCosta RicaHonduras DelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Triplasis 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Southeast MXT
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Nebraska NEB
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
Wisconsin WIS
Costa Rica COS SOUTHERN AMERICA
Honduras HON

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 251 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -10.9 °C 0.2 °C 13.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.4 °C 30.0 °C 34.9 °C
Annual rainfall 838 mm 1,080 mm 1,458 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 72 mm 191 mm 290 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 251 research-grade observations of Triplasis purpurea that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 19 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.

  • Aira purpurea Walter
  • Diplocea barbata Raf.
  • Festuca brevifolia Muhl.
  • Festuca purpurea F.Muell.
  • Glyceria brevifolia (Muhl.) Schult.
  • Merisachne drummondii Steud.
  • Panicularia brevifolia (Muhl.) Porter
  • Sieglingia purpurea Kuntze
  • Tricuspis purpurea (Walter) A.Gray
  • Triodia purpurea (Walter) Smyth
  • Triplasis caribensis (R.W.Pohl) Beetle
  • Triplasis floridana Gand.
  • Triplasis glabra Gand.
  • Triplasis intermedia Nash
  • Triplasis purpurea var. caribensis R.W.Pohl
  • Triplasis purpurea var. purpurea
  • Triplasis sparsiflora Chapm.
  • Uralepis aristulata Nutt.
  • Uralepis purpurea (Walter) Nutt.

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.