Nassella

Nassella
Nassella
Nassella laevissima from Chile at the UC Berkeley botanical gardens.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Tribe: Stipeae
Genus: Nassella
E. Desv.
Species
  • Nassella gigantea - giant featherad
  • Nassella laevissima
  • Nassella lepida - Foothill needle grass
  • Nassella leucotricha - Texas winter grass
  • Nassella pulchra - purple needle grass
  • Nassella tenuissima - Mexican Feather Grass
  • Nassella viridula

Nassella (Needle Grass) is a New World genus of about 115 perennial bunchgrasses found from North America through South America. The Latin name nassa means "a basket with a narrow neck."[1] It is now a segregate from the genus Stipa and includes many New World species formerly classified in that genus.[2]

Nasella is characterized by strongly overlapping lemma margins and reduced, veinless paleas. The lemma tips are fused into the "crown," a short membrane that surrounds the base of the lemma. The rim of the crown usually has hairs.

Many species form both cross-pollinating and self-pollinating florets in the terminal panicle. The self-pollinating florets have 1 – 3 small anthers; the cross-pollinating florest have 3 longer anthers. Some species have self-pollinating inflorescences hidden in their basal leaf sheaths. These hidden inflorescences lack glumes and usually lack awns.

Contents

California species

  • Nassella pulchra (Purple Needlegrass) is a native grass of California that was once a dominant species in California grasslands before invasive European grasses became dominant. The seeds of N. pulchra were an important food source for many California Indian tribes. Today, it is the 'State Grass of California' and plays an important role in native grassland restoration and erosion control.[3]
  • Nassella lepida (Foothill needle grass) is a California native bunch grass.

Horticultural species

  • Nassella gigantea - Giant Feather Grass
  • Nassella tenuissima - Mexican Feather Grass is an attractive, drought-tolerant bunchgrass with fine leaves and a narrow inflorescence that sways gracefully in the wind. Unfortunately, it readily escapes from cultivation in nearby disturbed areas including sidewalk cracks, driveways, and tree wells. It is well established as a weed in the area of San Francisco Bay, California, and has been found as an escape in Oregon.

References

  1. ^ http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_cpn.pl?11119
  2. ^ "Nassella E.Desv." by Mary Barkworth, Stipeae pages (Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University), June 13, 2003.
  3. ^ "History and Culture: State Insignia", California State Library, December 8, 2006.

External links


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