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Achnatherum lemmonii - Lemmon's needlegrass

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Stipa lemmonii
Other common names
Lemmon's stipa
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No

Grass Description

Origin
Native
Season
Cool

Dry sunny slopes, grasslands, savannas, openings within pine woodlands and upland prairies.

Plant Community
Desert Scrub
Grasslands
Interior Chaparral
Montane Conifer Forest
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Low elevation
0
High elevation
7500

General Description

Densely tufted grass, spreading to upright, with seedhead stems that are 8 to 30 inches high. Leaf blades are often blue-green in color. The seedhead is pale or purplish in color.

Spikelets are narrow, branches appressed; awns are usually less than 1 inch long, somewhat twice-bent and straight at their terminal; lemma apex hairs are longer than other lemma hairs; blades are narrow, 2 to 8 inches long and in-rolled and form a tuft.

Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
Yes
Height with Seedheads
24 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
May
Last bloom month
June

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
One-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
1/4 inch to 1 inch
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
Yes
Flower and Seedhead Notes

The seedhead is spike-like and narrow, 2-1/2 to 8-1/2 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Folded

Basal blades are less than 1/16 inch wide, folded to rolled, bottom surfaces smooth, hairless, top surfaces prominently ribbed, often with very short hairs, sometimes hairless; upper blades are to 1/8 inch wide, otherwise similar to the basal blades.

Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No

Has good palatability for deer, sheep and cattle.