Aristida divaricata

Poverty three-awn, Poverty Three-Awn

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Poverty three-awn is a native perennial grass found in southern San Joaquin Valley, southern California Coastal, and southern peninsular regions of California on dry slopes, shrublands, and grasslands at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to October, this grass produces pale green to tan spikelets with distinctive twisted awns that extend 10 to 20 millimeters long. Growing in dense tufts with erect stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall, the plant forms loose, open branching clusters. Its leaf blades are 5 to 20 centimeters long, loosely inrolled with a glabrous base, creating a fine, wispy appearance characteristic of three-awn grasses. The mature fruit is 8 to 10 millimeters long with intricate, multiple-twisted awns that distinguish this species from other grassland grasses.

Habitat: Uncommon. Dry slopes, shrubland, grassland

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, SCo, s PR

California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Orange, Kern, Tulare, San Diego

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.