Purple three-awn

Click for greater clarity and size.

Here’s another first for these pages: the native grass known as purple three-awn, Aristida purpurea, which has been more abundant this spring than I recall ever seeing it. (An awn, by the way, has nothing to do with an awning, but is a bristle-like appendage found in various grasses.)

This view shows a piece of the Blackland Prairie on the northeast corner of Wells Branch Parkway and 10th St. in Pflugerville as it looked on May 13th. Wind is the breath of the prairie.

To see the many places in North America where purple three-awn grows, you can check the state-clickable map at the USDA website.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman