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''Nassella pulchra'', basionym ''Stipa pulchra'', is a species of
grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
known by the common names purple needlegrass and purple tussockgrass. It is native to the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
state of
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and mountain ranges, as well as the Sacramento Valley and parts of the
Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significan ...
, and
Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. It grows in many types of local habitat, including grassland, chaparral, and oak woodland. It grows well on
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
and serpentine soils.


Description

''Nassella pulchra'' is a perennial
bunch grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennia ...
producing tufts of erect, unbranched stems up to tall. The extensive root system can reach deep into the soil, making the grass more tolerant of
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
.California Native Perennial Grasses.
Hastings Natural History Reservation.
The open, nodding
inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is up to 60 centimeters long and has many branches bearing Spikelets. The plant produces copious seed, up to 227 pounds per
acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
in dense stands. The pointed fruit is purple-tinged when young and has an
awn AWN may stand for: * Awn Access to Justice Network in Gaza Strip, Legal Aid Network operate in Gaza Strip, Palestine * Animation World Network, an online organization for animators * Avant Window Navigator, a dock-like bar that tracks open windows ...
up to 10 centimeters long which is twisted and bent twice. The shape of the seed helps it self-bury.


Uses

This grass is the preferred material used by the California Indian basket weavers for teaching the art of basket weaving.


State grass

Purple needlegrass became the California state grass in 2004. It is considered a symbol of the state because it is viewed by some as one of the most widespread native California grasses, it supported Native American groups as well as Mexican ranchers, and it helps suppress
invasive plant species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...
and support native
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s.


Ecology

In addition to supporting native oaks, it supports
common branded skipper ''Hesperia comma'', the silver-spotted skipper or common branded skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is known as silver-spotted skipper in Europe and common branded skipper in North America where the butterfly ''Epargyreus cl ...
and
Uncas skipper ''Hesperia uncas'', the Uncas skipper or white-vein skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from US Midwest to southern portions of the three Canadian Prairie provinces, north as far as Edmonton, Alberta. The wingspan is ...
caterpillars.The Xerces Society (2016), ''Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects'', Timber Press.


See also

* *
Native grasses of California Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...


References


External links


Calflora Database: ''Stipa pulchra'' (purple needlegrass)Jepson Manual (TJM93) treatment for ''Nassella pulchra''Jepson Herbarium: Jepson eFlora (TJM2) ''Stipa pulchra'' (purple needlegrass)

USDA Plants Profile: ''Nassella pulchra'' (purple needlegrass)Grass Manual Treatment: ''Nassella pulchra''''Nassella pulchra'' — U.C. photo gallery''Stipa pulchra'' — U.C. photo gallery
{{Authority control pulchra Bunchgrasses of North America Native grasses of California Grasses of Mexico Flora of Baja California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1915 Symbols of California