Aristida ramosa

Purple Wire Grass at Pomaderris Nature Reserve

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Identification history

Aristida sp.	10 Dec 2023	Grassman
Aristida ramosa	12 Apr 2021	MichaelBedingfield
Unidentified	12 Apr 2021	trevorpreston

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User's notes

Grass 30-40cm.

11 comments

Grassman wrote:

10 Dec 2023

Just a quick look at the Aristida ramosa observations suggest a lot are not ramosa. A ramosa is identified by its flowerhead being up to 2 cm wide (not including awns), densely congested to rather loose and spike-like. Branches are erect and tightly to loosely appressed to the main stem, as are the spikelets. A personata differs in being a more robust plant and having a loose to open panicle

MattM wrote:

10 Dec 2023

@Grassman I must admit I hadn't heard of A. personata before. At some point someone taught me the local Aristida was A. ramosa and then I never did my due diligence and treated it all as A. ramosa. Thanks for flagging this issue. I will be more vigilant in the future.

Tapirlord wrote:

10 Dec 2023

My understanding is that A.personata has been treated as a variety of A.Ramosa previously. The two are similar.

Those Aristida that have been recorded from the ACT (with pressed specimens) are as follows.

A.behriana
A.calycina
A.Jerichoensis jerichoensis
A.jerichoensis subspinulifera
A.ramosa

Grassman wrote:

10 Dec 2023

According to AVH you need to add
A personata
A holathera var holathera
A holathera var latifolia
A echinata
A warburgii
See https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=text%3AAristida%20AND%20(state%3A%22Australian%20Capital%20Territory%22%20OR%20cl2117%3A%22Australian%20Capital%20Territory%22)&disableAllQualityFilters=true&qc=data_hub_uid%3Adh9&fq=(taxon_name%3A%22Aristida%20holathera%20var.%20holathera%22%20OR%20taxon_name%3A%22Aristida%20echinata%22%20OR%20taxon_name%3A%22Aristida%20holathera%20var.%20latifolia%22%20OR%20taxon_name%3A%22Aristida%20personata%22%20OR%20taxon_name%3A%22Aristida%20warburgii%22)#tab_recordsView

Tapirlord wrote:

10 Dec 2023

Very interesting, that would mean Dave and Brendan were very off in their estimations for the ACT plant census. I will seek advice from the herbarium.

Grassman wrote:

10 Dec 2023

I've been trawling through collections from Qld and NSW and also going through keys and descriptions in Flora of Australia, AusGrass2, PlantNET, Grasses of NSW and KeyBase. What a mess. The species you get to depends on which key you use. And then the descriptions don't match up. And then the herbarium samples don't match up.
A personata lemmas are described in FoA as longer than the lower glume and subequal to the upper glume, but Qld has samples with the lemma much longer than both glumes. GNSW and FoA say flowerheads are to 2 cm wide, yet multiple samples show it often greatly exceeds this.
Same goes on with A ramosa, which is supposed to have a narrow spike-like panicle with branches and spikelets appressed to the main axis according to FoA, but Qld samples show spreading branches and spikelets

Grassman wrote:

10 Dec 2023

One last thing. If my additions are right then the following species (without good glume and lemma photos) can easily be mistaken for A ramosa:-
A. calycina
A. jerichoensis
A. personata
A. echinatus
A. holathera

Tapirlord wrote:

10 Dec 2023

Ok, so having gone through some records, this list provided by AVH is somewhat misleading.

All three records of A.holathera represent cultivated specimens germinated from soil imported from Western Australia. This taxa seems to be an arid species that I would think is an unlikely find locally.

A.warbungii has technically been recorded from the ACT, but this record actually hails from Jervis Bay National park. It is a coastal species and there is no evidence it occurs locally.

A.personata has been recorded from Queanbeyan but not actually from the territory. It seems to be one we should consider.

A.echinata has been recorded a single time from the territory. It is also one to watch out for.

For now, I will not be adding additional taxa to my ACT lists. Nor will I be confirming image records of grasses not yet recorded from the ACT. I will get in touch with my contact at the herbarium and see if we can get some advice from them.

Tapirlord wrote:

10 Dec 2023

Thanks @Grassman I might email you privately then if that’s ok? I am quite curious for your thoughts on some other topics, and also feel as though I need to explain a few things.

Grassman wrote:

10 Dec 2023

That's fine @Tapirlord

MattM wrote:

15 Jul 2024

@Tapirlord did you ever get that advice from the herbarium? I am interested in learning more about A. ramosa/personata, if for no other reason than to put my mind at ease.

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