FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Easy to distinguish when in flower since it is restricted to wet pine flats and related habitat. This species only flowers after its habitat has been burned.
Description: Medium height perennial grass forming graceful tufts or clumps, 0.5 to 1 m tall.
Leaves: Long, narrow leaf blades rolled inward and mostly originating from the base. Dense leaf hairs evident without unrolling the blade.
Flowers/Fruit: Loosely arranged spikelets in a slender panicle, up to 30 cm long. Flowers of this genus have 3 distinctive awns or bristles about 1 cm long. Flowering time depends on burning; flowers July to October if burned earlier in the year.
Habit and Range: Carolina wiregrass tolerates a wide range of moisture including well drained hills, wet pine savannas, and flatwoods, especially where periodically burned. Mainly found in the Coastal Plain.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Aristida stricta (Carolina wiregrass) can be confused with Sporobolus pinetorum (Carolina dropseed), but that uncommon species is more green.
