Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 82 (1753).

Derivation: Latin arista, an awn; alluding to the 3-fid awn.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Wire-grasses, kerosene-grasses, threeawns.

Description:
Tufted glabrous annuals or perennials; leaf blades filiform, involute, conduplicate or rarely flat; ligule a ciliolate-fringed membrane.

Inflorescence an open or spicate panicle; spikelets solitary, bisexual, 1-flowered; glumes membranous, keeled, equal or unequal, muticous or awned; lemma convolute or involute, indurated, with a basal hairy callus and a terminal 3-fid awn with or without a spirally twisted column between the lemma and awns; palea hyaline, small.

Distribution:  A cosmopolitan genus with about 350 species in tropical, subtropical and to a lesser extent temperate areas.

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Lemma with an articulation below a twisted column
2. Lemma up to 7 mm long, brownish when mature; leaf blade more or less wavy	A. contorta 7.
2. Lemma more than 7 mm long, purplish when mature; leaf blade more or less rigid	A. holathera 8.
1. Lemma without an articulation
3. Lemma involute, with a furrow on the ventral surface
4. Lemma muricate towards the apex, not in the furrow	A. anthoxanthoides 1.
4. Lemma muricate in the furrow, not towards the apex
5. Glumes subequal	A. biglandulosa var. biglandulosa 5.
5. Glumes unequal, the lower longer	A. inaequiglumis 9.
3. Lemma convolute, without a furrow on the ventral surface
6. Lemma with a twisted column (sometimes reduced to a half spiral)	A. latifolia 10.
6. Lemma without a column
7. Lemma shorter than or subequal in length to the upper glume
8. Inflorescence much longer than broad	A. ramosa var. speciosa 13.
8. Inflorescence almost as broad as long
9. Lemma more or less smooth; peduncle terete	A. behriana 4.
9. Lemma densely scabrous; peduncle compressed	A. obscura 12.
7. Lemma shorter than or subequal in length to the lower glume
10. Lemma smooth	A. australis 3.
10. Lemma tuberculate or scabrous
11. Lemma tuberculate
12. Glumes more or less equal in length	A. nitidula 11.
12. Glumes unequal in length	A. arida 2.
11. Lemma scabrous
13. Lemma 8.5-10 mm long; leaf blades conduplicate or flat	A. strigosa 14.
13. Lemma 5-8 mm long; leaf blades filiform	A. capillifolia 6.

Author: Prepared by B. K. Simon