430 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, TJ. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Figure 898.— Distribution 

 Stipa spartea. 



of 



callus 2 mm long, the body glabrous, papillose-roughened toward 

 the summit, awn scabrous, 4.5 to 6 cm long, twice-geniculate. % 

 — Dry or rocky open woods, Massachusetts to Michigan south to 

 Florida and Texas, mostly on the Coastal Plain (fig. 896). 



9. Stipa spartea Trin. Porcupine grass. 

 (Fig. 897.) Culms about 1 m tall; ligule rather 

 firm, 4 to 5 mm long ; blades 20 to 30 cm long, 3 to 

 5 mm wide, flat, involute in drying ; panicle 1 5 to 

 20 cm long, narrow, nodding, the few slender 

 branches bearing 1 or 2 spikelets ; glumes 3 to 

 4 cm long; lemma subcylindric, brown, 1.6 to 

 2.5 cm long, the callus about 7 mm long, the 

 body pubescent below, glabrous above except 

 for a line of pubescence on one side, the crown erect-ciliate ; awn stout, 

 12 to 20 cm long, twice geniculate. % — Prairies, Ontario to British 

 Columbia, south to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kansas, and New Mexico 

 (fig. 898). Stipa spartea var. curtiseta Hitchc. Glumes 2 to 3 

 cm long; lemma 12 to 15 mm long; awn mostly not more than 7 

 or 8 enflong. % — Manitoba to Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, 

 and Wyoming. 



10. Stipa comata Trin. and Rupr. 

 Needle-and-thread. (Fig. 899.) Culms 

 30 to 60 cm tall, sometimes taller; ligule 

 thin, 3 to 4 mm long; blades 10 to 30 cm 

 long, 1 to 2 mm wide, flat or involute, panicle 

 commonly included at base, narrow, 10 to 

 20 cm long; glumes 1.5 to 2 cm long, the 

 attenuate tips subhy aline; lemma 8 to 12 

 mm long, mostly about 1 cm, pale or finally 



brownish, the callus 

 about 3 mm long, 

 the body sparsely 

 pubescent or gla- 

 brate toward the 

 summit; awn 10 to 

 15 cm long, indis- 

 tinctly twice-geni- 

 culate, very slender, 

 loosely twisted below, flexuous above, often 

 deciduous. % — Prairies, plains, and dry 

 hills, Indiana to Yukon Territory, south to 

 Texas and California (fig. 900.) A form 

 from Washington with pubescent foliage 

 has been called S. comota var. intonsa Piper. 

 Stipa comata var. intermedia Scribn. 

 and Tweedy. Differing from S. comata 

 in the shorter straight third segment of 

 the awn; glumes and lemma on the aver- . 



age a little longer; panicle usually exserted; ligule long, as m b. 

 comata.— Montana to Washington, south to New Mexico and 

 California. 



Figure 900.— Distribution 

 Stipa comata. 



of 



Figure 899.— Stipa comata. Panicle, 

 X Vi\ lemma, X 5. (Hitchcock 1700, 

 Colo.) 



