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



Figure 898— Distribution 

 Stipa spar tea. 



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 Trim 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 cm long. % — Manitoba to Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, 



and Wyoming. 



10. Stipa comata Trim 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 in S. 



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



California. 



Figure 900.— Distribution 

 Stipa comata. 



Figure 899 

 X Vi, lemma, X 5 

 Colo.) 



Stipa comata. Panicle, 

 (Hitchcock 1700, 



