Western needlegrass, often called western porcupinegrass, grows 

 from, about 1 to 2^ feet high in fairly small clumps and, as the 

 names (both scientific and common) imply, is a western species rang- 

 ing from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to Wyoming and Cali- 

 fornia. It usually inhabits dry, well-drained soil on plains, ridges 

 and in open, timber types, extending from the upper foothills into 

 the higher mountains. It usually occurs in scattered clumps but 

 sometimes forms the most conspicuous vegetation on restricted areas 

 of open hillsides and ridgetops. 



Like many of the needlegrasses, this species starts growth early, 

 is slow in maturing, and remains green until late in the season 

 usually until fall. It produces a fairly large amount of leafage 

 which is usually of good, although not choice, palatability for all 

 classes of livestock. Its highest palatability is in the spring and 

 early summer while the plants are young and succulent. As the 

 species matures, the leaves become somewhat tough for sheep but are 

 still grazed to some extent even after that condition develops. The 

 value of western needlegrass as forage is relatively higher in the 

 fall than in midsummer because it remains green after most of the 

 grasses have dried up. Although the seeds apparently are not in- 

 jurious, grazing animals avoid them when they begin to mature. 

 Livestock, especially sheep, sometimes graze the leaves closely, leav- 

 ing the stems untouched. Since a good share of the seed, which is 

 usually of fair viability, is left to mature, reproduction is commonly 

 fairly good, although this species is not so aggressive as some of the 

 other needlegrasses. Western needlegrass has a spreading and 

 deeply penetrating root system which makes it resistant to trampling 

 and capable of withstanding considerable drought. "Its seedlings 

 develop somewhat deeper roots than do the majority of the species, 

 and because of this fact they have thrived during dry periods in 

 certain places where other species able to exist in soils of slightly 

 lower water content have died." 1 



This grass has numerous narrow, inrolled leaves crowded at the base. Al- 

 though mostly basal, a few leaves also occur on the slender stems. The leaf 

 sheaths are not hairy. The panicle is loose but narrow, almost spikelike, and 

 about 4 to 8 inches long. The "seed", covered with soft hairs, is tipped with an 

 awn 1 to I~y 2 inches long, twice bent, and also covered with hairs which make it 

 feathery to the second bend. This species closely resembles Thurber needle- 

 grass (S. thurberiana) but the leaves of western needlegrass are not so 

 rough, the "seeds" are smaller, and the small bractlike appendage (ligule) at- 

 tached at the junction of the leaf blade and sheath is but a minute membrane. 

 In Thurber needlegrass, this ligule is conspicuous, being about one-eighth to 

 one-fourth of an inch long. 



1 Sampson, A. W. IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS : THHIR LIFE HISTORY AND FORAGE VALUE. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 545, 63 pp., illus. 1917. 



