Stipa viridula Trin.
Green Needlegrass

Habit: 		Tufted perennial.
Culms: 		60-100 cm. tall, sparingly branched.
Blades: 	Flat or mostly involute, smooth or scabrous above, the lower 10-30 cm. long,
		stem leaves 6-15 cm. long, 1-3 (5) mm. wide.
Sheaths: 	Basal sheaths overlapping, villous at the throat, often rather sparingly so,
		more or less hispidulous in a line across the collar.
Ligule: 	Membranous, about 1 mm. long.
Inflorescence: 	Panicle erect, 10-20 cm. long, narrow, the branches mostly in pairs,
		erect, rather densely flowered from near the base, greenish or tawny at maturity.
Spikelets: 	Narrow, 1-flowered, flower perfect, rachilla disarticulating above the glume.
Glumes: 	Subequal, 7-10 mm. long, narrow, persistent, prominently 3-nerved,
		hyaline-awn-pointed, exceeding the lemma.
Lemmas: 	5-6 mm. long, more than 1 mm. wide, strigose, fusiform, strongly convolute,
		rigid at maturity, plump, brownish, appressed-pubescent, callus rather blunt;
		ending in a twice-bent awn, 2-3 mm. long, which is spirally twisted below the knee.
Palea: 		Enclosed within the lemmas.
Habitat: 	Plains and prairies: dry places.  July-August.
Kansas Range:	Scattered throughout.
Synonyms:	Nassella viridula (Trin.) Barkworth