Xeriscape Landscaping Plants For The Arizona Desert Environment
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Grasses

Mexican Thread Grass, Stipa tenuissima or Nassella tenuissima

Mexican Thread Grass, Stipa tenuissima or Nassella tenuissima. Photo December 11, 2006. Peoria.

Mexican Thread Grass	Stipa tenuissima Nassella tenuissima
Mexican Thread Grass	Stipa tenuissima Nassella tenuissima

Mexican Thread Grass Stipa tenuissima, or Nassella tenuissimaGrass Family ( Poaceae ), Mexican Thread Grass. Also called Feather Grass, Silky Thread Grass, Mexican Feather Grass, Mexican Needle Grass, Pony Tails. Reclassified as Nassella teniussuma. Nassella tenuissima is still sold under the name Stipa tenuissima. This grass moves at the slightest breeze. Mexican feather grass is great for erosion control on sunny slopes. It reseeds itself. To prevent any offspring, cut back seed heads before they ripen. Run a rake through it in late winter to early spring to take out dead grass. A neat, compact, perennial grass, this has lots of close-packed, stiff, thread-like stems forming a strongly horizontal shape about 60cm (2ft) tall. In summer, plants are covered with masses of elegant pale feathery seed-heads which are held a little above the foliage. These can be cut and dried when first opened for use in winter arrangements indoors. Alternatively they make a useful winter food source for finches and other seed-eating birds. It tolerates alkaline soil; extremely drought tolerant. Moderate to little water, cannot tolerate poorly-drained soils. Culms: Erect, solid, 10 to 40 inches tall, glabrous, purplish at the nodes. They are in clumps or sometimes just a few together. Blades: Numerous blades, flat, from 2 to 12 inches long, scabrous above and on the margins, smooth beneath. Tiny hairs grow out of tiny bumps on the blade margins, especially near the ligule. Sheaths: Usually shorter than the internodes, striate, glabrous below to somewhat pilose above. The collar is frequently pilose on the margins. Ligules: Very short fringed membrane, truncate. Inflorescence: A panicle, 3 to16 inches long, with 20 to 60 spike-like branches, each one-sided and 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. The individual branches are angled to one side of the rachis and they hang down. Spikelets: There are 3 to 8 spikelets per branch with one perfect floret and one imperfect floret. Lemma has three short, unequal awns. Height: Height normally about 30 inches tall. Will also spread to about 12 inches. Flowers: Feathery,starting out green, then turning a buff tan color. Blooming Time: Mid August - September. Leaves: Simple, narrow, tightly rolled, green leaves. Elevation: 2,500 - 7,000 Feet. Habitat: Full Sun. Rocky open slopes, shallow woodlands and forest openings up to an elevation of 7,000 feet. A Xeriscape Landscape plant. Native of Texas, New Mexico, (Chihuahuan Desert) Mexico, Argentina. Miscellaneous: Photos Taken December 11, 2006. Peoria.