Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Purple Sandgrass - Triplasis purpurea   (Walter) Chapman
Members of Poaceae:
Members of Triplasis with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Order Cyperales » Family Poaceae
Author(Walter) Chapman
DistributionSandhills, Coastal Plain, Outer Banks, and other barrier islands; absent from much of the northwestern Coastal Plain.

Coastal Plain and maritime, NH to FL and TX; inland to NM, CO, NE, WI, and IL; Mex., C.R.
AbundanceFrequent throughout, except of spotty collection occurrence in the northern Coastal Plain. The website editors suggest a State Rank of S4S5 owing to its numerous presence across much of the eastern part of the state.
HabitatXeric sand and nutrient-poor sandy soil with little competition: sand dunes, interdune flats and maritime dry grasslands, openings in maritime woodlands, bay rims, roadsides, sandhills, pine-scrub oak areas.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting August-October.
IdentificationThis weak-looking annual grows 1-2 feet tall, a few to several stems from the base. The leaves are at most 2 mm wide. The terminal inflorescence is composed of 3-7 well-spaced spikelets, usually purplish and 3-4 flowered. It is very similar to Perennial Sandgrass (T. americana), but the stem internodes are glabrous (vs. pubescent in that species).
Taxonomic CommentsNone

Other Common Name(s)None
State RankS3? [S4S5]
Global RankG4G5
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