Stipa spartea

Taxobox
name = Porcupine grass

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = "S. spartea" seed
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Poales
familia = Poaceae
tribe = Stipeae
genus = "Stipa"
species = "S. spartea"
binomial = "Stipa spartea"
binomial_authority =

"Stipa spartea" is a grass species in the genus "Stipa" and is often called Porcupine Grass.

The seeds are needle like with sharp tips and long tails. The tails are composed of two different strands that dry at different rates and twist around each other, causing the sharp head of the seed to be driven into the soil. Just behind the sharp, needle like tip, is a collar of long thick hairs that face backward preventing the seeds from working their way back out of the soil. This species of grass can have its seeds entangled in sheeps' hair while they are feeding, and once entangled it often works its way into the animals skin.Fact|date=August 2008

Note the two differently colored strands wrapping around the tails, they each twist at different rates depending on the humidity of the air.