Aristida dichotoma Michx. Poverty Threeawn Habit: Annual. Culms: Tufted, wiry, erect or ascending, much branched at the base, 10-15 cm. tall (in depauperate specimens sometimes nearly simple). Blades: Short, 3-7 cm. long, scarcely 1 mm. wide, the lower mostly flat, the upper involute, scabrous. Sheaths: Loose, much shorter than the internodes. Ligule: Small, hairy. Inflorescence: Panicles 5-12 cm. long, narrow, few-flowered, simple, the lateral ones often sessile and partially enclosed in the sheaths. Spikelets: Few, 7-9 mm. long, 1-flowered, narrow. Glumes: About equal, or the first a little shorter, 6-8 mm. long, scabrous on the keel and more or less scaberulous on the back, often toothed and mucronate. Lemmas: Without the awn 5-6 mm. long, 3-nerved, somewhat compressed above, firm, narrow, rigid, strongly convolute, callus short, rather blunt, sparingly pubescent, column obsolete, central awn 3-6 mm. long, spirally 1-2 coiled at the base, bent horizontally or somewhat reflexed, the lateral awns a continuation of the lateral nerves, erect, usually about 1 mm. long. Palea: Thin, included by the lemma. Habitat: Sandy soil, dry open ground. August-September.