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• Poaceae
• Poaceae Group 4
• Triraphis
• Triraphis mollis

Triraphis mollis — purpleheads

Facts

Purpleheads is native to Australia. In North America it has been collected only in Texas, and from the waste site of a nineteenth-century wool carding factory in Massachusetts.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  • the glume has an awn
  • the glume has no awn

  Floret number

  3–9

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  3

  Inflorescence arrangement

  the spikelets are uniform

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branch length

  Up to 4.5 cm

  Inflorescence branches

  • the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
  • there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence length

  60–300 mm

  Inflorescence length to width ratio

  4–10

  Inflorescence type (general)

  • the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches
  • the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched, and the branches do NOT both grow from the same side of the plant AND look like spikes

  Inflorescence width

  15–30 mm

  Inforescence position

  the spikelets are mainly carried at the end of the stem

  Lemma awn base

  the awn is attached right at the tip of the lemma

  Lemma awn length

  5–7 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has more than one awn on it

  Lemma base hairs

  the lemma has hairs at the base

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is V-shaped if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma marginal vein hairs

  the marginal vein of the lemma is hairless

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is split into two or more points

  Lemma vein number

  3

  Lower glume length

  3–4 mm

  Lower glume relative length

  the lower glume is nearly as long, or as long as, the upper glume

  One or more florets

  there is more than one floret per spikelet

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet disintegration

  the spikelet breaks off above the glumes, so that after the florets fall off, the glumes remain

  Spikelet length

  4.5–6 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

  Tip of glume

  the tip of the glume is divided into two or more points

  Upper glume length

  4–5 mm

  Upper glume shape

  the upper glume is widest at or below the middle

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

• Leaves

  Basal leaves

  the plant has few or no leaves coming from the base of the flowering stem

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf basal lobe hairy

  NA

  Leaf blade cross-section

  the leaf blade is more or less flat in cross-section, or slightly folded or rolled inwards

  Leaf blade length

  7–24 cm

  Leaf blade width

  2–5 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  • the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane with fine hairs
  • the leaf ligule is in the form of fine hairs

  Leaf margin glands

  there are no glands along the edges of the leaf blade

  Leaf sheath hairs

  there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Hairs at nodes

  the stem nodes are hairless or they have very sparse hairs

  Plant height

  2–90 cm

  Roots at lower stem nodes

  • no
  • yes

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae