Needle-and-thread, an erect leafy bunchgrass, 1 to 4 feet high, is 

 so named because of its most distinguishing feature, the exception- 

 ally long, twisted, and tapering beards (awns) which suggest a 

 threaded sewing needle. The specific name comata, from the Latin 

 coma, head of hair ; also refers to the effect of a tangled head of these 

 awns. The plant is also called long-awned porcupmegrass, common 

 or western needlegrass, sandgrass, and silkgrass. This grass is very 

 widely distributed over the Western States and the Great Plains and 

 also occurs in the upper valley of the Yukon. It is common on dry, 

 sandy, or gravelly plains, mesas, and foothills and sometimes extends 

 into the mountains up to elevations between 4.000 and 8,500 feet. It 

 commonly occurs in the sagebrush, juniper-pinon, and ponderosa 

 pine types of the Rocky Mountains and on semidesert plains and 

 foothills of the Southwest. 



The forage value of needle-and-thread varies in different regions, 

 at different seasons, and with varied plant associates. In the South- 

 west and California, it is rated very high during the early season 

 before the beards (awns) develop, and again after the seeds are 

 dropped. This grass is valuable because it begins growth early in 

 the spring when other grasses are dry. Furthermore, it greens up 

 and produces new growth in summer and fall with the advent of 

 sufficient precipitation. In some sections of the Southwest and Cali- 

 fornia, it is grazed so closely that its extermination threatens because 

 of deficient seed production. An abundance of leafage is produced 

 which remains green during most of the grazing season, cures rather 

 well and often is closely eaten on winter ranges. It is cut for hay 

 in parts of eastern Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Nebraska where it 

 rates as very good forage. When found in mixture with an abun- 

 dance of choice forage, it is considered only fairly good spring and 

 fall feed, as compared with other grasses, because of its coarseness 

 and the tendency of the leaves to toughen rather early. If grazing 

 occurs while the "seeds" are mature and before they are dropped, they 

 may be mechanically injurious, especially to sheep. 



This species is a deep-rooted bunchgrass which depends upon seed for repro- 

 duction. Although it does not reproduce readily 011 the drier ranges and is 

 rather easily killed out by overuse, in the more favorable areas it usually repro- 

 duces very well and satisfactorily withstands heavy grazing in spring and fall 

 when the plants are allowed to mature seed during the summer. 



The basal leaf blades of needle-and-thread are narrow, usually inrolled, and 

 3 to 12 inches long; the stem leaves are shorter and broader. The uppermost 

 leaf sheath is elongated and loosely encloses the base of the panicle. The 

 panicle is 5 to 10 inches long, loosely spreading, with one-flowered spikelets 

 (i. e., each flower or seed is borne singly) out near the ends of long branches. 

 The "seeds" are about three-eights of an inch in length, tipped with a slender 

 awn commonly 4 to 5, but occasionally as much as 9, inches long. The lower 

 part of the awn, below the bend, is tightly twisted and has some very fine soft 

 hairs. The upper part is rough to the touch, nearly straight or only slightly 

 twisted, and tapers gradually to a fine point. Seed matures in midsummer 

 and drops in late summer or early fall. 



New Mexican feathergrass (S. neomexicdna) , also known as New Mexican 

 needlegrass and porcupinegrass, is very closely related to needle-and-thread both 

 botanically and economically, differing from it mainly in having a distinctly 

 feathery awn (beard). This species is found from Colorado and Utah to Cali- 

 fornia and western Texas. It was originally known from New Mexico, to which 

 its English and scientific names refer. 



