Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Purple Silkyscale - Anthenantia rufa   (Elliott) J.A. Schultes
Members of Poaceae:
Members of Anthenantia with account distribution info or public map:
Google Images
Section 5 » Family Poaceae
Author(Elliott) J.A. Schultes
DistributionMostly the middle and outer Coastal Plain in the southern half of the province; local in the Sandhills (Cumberland County), and reported from Moore County in the NCNHP database.

NC to northern FL and southeastern LA.
AbundanceUncommon in the Coastal Plain; rare in the Sandhills. The website editors suggest the State Rank be moved to S2S3, as it is not quite as rare as the NCNHP's S2 rank. This is a Watch List species.
HabitatWet pine savannas, seepage bogs with pitcher plants, wet streamhead ecotones.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationThe narrow inflorescences with densely hairy floral scales readily identify our two species of silkyscale. The hairs are translucent and stick out vertically from the scale surfaces. The plants stand erect, 2.5-4 feet tall. In this species, the scales and hairs are red-purple in color (vs. green in A. villosa) and it inhabits wet, seepy soil, versus more mesic sandhill soils in A. villosa.
Taxonomic CommentsIn some publications the genus name is spelled Anthaenantia.

Other Common Name(s)None
State RankS2 [S2S3]
Global RankG5
State StatusW1
US Status
USACE-agcpFACW link
USACE-empFACU link
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
Photo Gallery
photographercommentsphoto_linkcountyobsType
B.A. SorrieCumberland County, 1992, Fort Bragg, Northeast Training Area, boggy ecotone S of firebreak 13. CumberlandPhoto_natural
Select a source
AllHerbaria
Individual
Literature
Website
Select an occurrence type
AllCollection_naturalLiterature_naturalPhoto_natural