DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Aristida purpurea | Purple Threeawn 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Purple threeawn is distributed from Iowa and Minnesota west to British
Columbia and south to California, Texas, and northern Mexico
[8,15,26,27].  Distribution of varieties is:

Fendler threeawn -  northern Mexico, southern California and Texas north to
                    British Columbia and east to the Dakotas [8,26] 
blue threeawn   -   southern California east to southern Utah and Oklahoma
                    and south to northern Mexico
Parish's threeawn - southern California and southern Nevada south to
                    Baja California
purple threeawn  -  southern California east to Arkansas and south to
  (A. purpurea      northern Mexico
    var. purpurea)                    
Wright's threeawn - southern California east to Oklahoma and south to
                    northern Mexico [26]


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES15  Oak-hickory
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES33  Southwestern shrubsteppe
   FRES34  Chaparral-mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon-juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES40  Desert grasslands


STATES : 
     AZ  AR  CA  CO  IA  ID  KS  MN  MT  NE
     NV  NM  ND  OK  OR  SD  TX  UT  WA  WY
     AB  BC  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ARCH  BADL  BAND  BIBE  BICA  BLCA
     BRCA  CACH  CANY  CACA  CAGR  CHIR
     COLO  COLM  CURE  DETO  DINO  DEVA
     FOBO  GLCA  GRCA  GUMO  JOTR  HOVE
     LAME  LAMR  LIBI  MEVE  MOCA  NABR
     PEFO  PISP  ORPI  ROMO  SAGU  SAAN
     SCBL  THRO  TONT  WACA  WICA  WUPA
     ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K009  Pine-cypress forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine-Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K027  Mesquite bosque
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K031  Oak-juniper woodlands
   K032  Transition between K031 and K037
   K033  Chaparral
   K034  Montane chaparral
   K035  Coastal sagebrush
   K037  Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K039  Blackbrush
   K040  Saltbush-greasewood
   K041  Creosotebush
   K043  Paloverde-cactus shrub
   K044  Creosotebush-tarbush
   K050  Fescue-wheatgrass
   K053  Grama-galleta steppe
   K054  Grama-tobosa prairie
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta-three-awn shrubsteppe
   K058  Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
   K059  Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
   K065  Grama-buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass-needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass-grama-buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem-grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage-bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem-sacahuista prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K085  Mesquite-buffalograss


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    40  Post oak-blackjack oak
    68  Mesquite
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir-western hemlock
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir-tanoak-Pacific madrone
   236  Bur oak
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon-juniper
   240  Arizona cypress
   241  Western live oak
   242  Mesquite
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   246  California black oak
   247  Jeffrey pine
   249  Canyon live oak
   250  Blue oak-foothills pine
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   101  Bluebunch wheatgrass
   102  Idaho fescue
   103  Green fescue
   104  Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   105  Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
   106  Bluegrass scabland
   107  Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
   109  Ponderosa pine shrubland
   110  Ponderosa pine-grassland
   201  Blue oak woodland
   202  Coast live oak woodland
   204  North coastal shrub
   205  Coastal sage shrub
   206  Chamise chaparral
   207  Scrub oak mixed chaparral
   209  Montane shrubland
   210  Bitterbrush
   211  Creosotebush scrub
   212  Blackbush
   301  Bluebunch wheatgrass-blue grama
   302  Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
   304  Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
   305  Idaho fescue-Richardson needlegrass
   306  Idaho fescue-slender wheatgrass
   307  Idaho fescue-threadleaf sedge
   309  Idaho fescue-western wheatgrass
   310  Needle-and-thread-blue grama
   311  Rough fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
   312  Rough fescue-Idaho fescue
   314  Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   315  Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   316  Big sagebrush-rough fescue
   317  Bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   318  Bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
   319  Bitterbrush-rough fescue
   322  Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
   323  Shrubby cinquefoil-rough fescue
   401  Basin big sagebrush
   402  Mountain big sagebrush
   403  Wyoming big sagebrush
   407  Stiff sagebrush
   408  Other sagebrush types
   412  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   413  Gambel oak
   414  Salt desert shrub
   415  Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
   416  True mountain-mahogany
   501  Saltbush-greasewood
   502  Grama-galleta
   503  Arizona chaparral
   504  Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
   505  Grama-tobosa shrub
   506  Creosotebush-bursage
   507  Palo verde-cactus
   508  Creosotebush-tarbush
   509  Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association
   601  Bluestem prairie
   602  Bluestem-prairie sandreed
   603  Prairie sandreed-needlegrass
   604  Bluestem-grama prairie
   605  Sandsage prairie
   606  Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
   607  Wheatgrass-needlegrass
   608  Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
   609  Wheatgrass-grama
   610  Wheatgrass
   611  Blue grama-buffalograss
   612  Sagebrush-grass
   613  Fescue grassland
   614  Crested wheatgrass
   615  Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama
   702  Black grama-alkali sacaton
   703  Black grama-sideoats grama
   704  Blue grama-western wheatgrass
   705  Blue grama-galleta
   706  Blue grama-sideoats grama
   707  Blue grama-sideoats grama-black grama
   708  Bluestem-dropseed
   709  Bluestem-grama
   710  Bluestem prairie
   711  Bluestem-sacahuista prairie
   713  Grama-muhly-threeawn
   714  Grama-bluestem
   715  Grama-buffalograss
   716  Grama-feathergrass
   718  Mesquite-grama
   720  Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)
   721  Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)
   722  Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie
   724  Sideoats grama-New Mexico feathergrass-winterfat
   727  Mesquite-buffalograss
   731  Cross timbers-Oklahoma
   732  Cross timbers-Texas (little bluestem-post oak)
   733  Juniper-oak
   735  Sideoats grama-sumac-juniper


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Publications describing plant communities in which purple threeawn is
dominant are:

Steppe vegetation of Washington [9]
Plant associations of the Wallowa-Snake Province [31]
The palouse grassland association in northern Utah [49]
Canyon grasslands and associated shrublands of West-central Idaho and
  adjacent areas [51]

Listings of common plant associates of purple threeawn follow.

Southern Idaho:  Associates in Fendler threeawn/Sandberg bluegrass (Poa
secunda) communities include cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Japanese
brome (B. japonicus), Kentucky bluegrass (P. pratensis), and common
yarrow (Achillea millefolium) [51].

Eastern Colorado:  Common plant associates in Fendler threeawn/blue
grama-buffalograss (Bouteloua gracilis-Buchloe dactyloides) communities
include sand scurfpea (Psoralidium lanceolatum), slimflower scurfpea (P.
tenuiflorum), and plains pricklypear cactus (Opuntia polyacantha) [39].

Southern Arizona:  Fendler threeawn associates in desert grassland of
the Huachuca Mountains include gramas (Grama spp.), crinkle-awn
(Trachypogon secundus), Arizona threeawn (Aristida arizonica), purple
muhly (Muhlenbergia rigida), and Texas timothy (Lycurus phleoides) [57].

North-central Texas:  Associates of Wright's and purple threeawn (A.
purpurea var. purpurea) in a redberry juniper (Juniperus
pinchotii)-mixed grassland community of northeastern King County, Texas,
include fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), littleleaf sumac (R.
microphylla), algerita (Mahonia trifoliolata), sideoats grama (Bouteloua
curtipendula), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), silver
beardgrass (Bothriochloa laguroides), and tall dropseed (Sporobolus
asper var. asper) [47].

Related categories for Species: Aristida purpurea | Purple Threeawn