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Columbia
Needlegrass
Common
Name(s):
Columbia Needlegrass
Nelson's Needlegrass
Scientific
Name:
Achnatherum
nelsonii (Scribn.) Barkworth ssp. nelsonii
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
Stipa columbiana Macoun
var. nelsonii (Scribn.) St. John
Symbol:
ACNE9
Description:
Life
Span: Perennial
Origin:Native
Season: Cool
Growth Characteristics:
Erect,
fine-stemmed bunchgrass, without rhizomes, growing 1 to 2 ½
feet tall, often with purple stem nodes. Starts growth in mid-spring,
matures by September, reproduces from seeds and tillers; may regrow
in the fall if moisture is adequate.
Seedhead:Narrow,
rather dense, often purplish panicle, up to 8 inches longs; spikelets
contain one floret; lemmas are hairy with a twice-twisted awn which
is usually ¾ to 1 inch long, and attached securely at the
tip of the lemma.
Leaves: Blades glabrous, flat when green
and growing but rolled when mature, narrow, 4 to 8 inches long;
sheaths glabrous; leaves rolled in bud; ligules short, membranous,
collar shaped; auricles absent.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Columbia
needlegrass is a mountain grass that grows at elevations from 5,000
to 12,500 feet where there is more than 15 inches of precipitation
per year. It occurs mostly in the mountain and high mountain sites,
and can be aggressive, except in water table sites and upland sites.
It is common under aspen.
Soils: Grows on a wide variety of soils
from shallow to deep, and from sandy loam to clays. It prefers well-developed,
deep loamy soils.
Associated Species:
Mountain
brome, slender wheatgrass, bluebunch
wheatgrass, lupine, big
sagebrush, aspen, and
silver sagebrush.
Uses and
Management:
This
is a fair to good forage plant for cattle and horses and fair for
sheep, deer and elk. It becomes rather unpalatable at maturity.
It's seed provides some feed for upland game birds, turkeys, and
small mammals. The sharp-pointed callus (part of lemma) may work
into the ears, eyes, nostrils, and tongues of grazing animals; sheep
are especially susceptible to injury; awns may contaminate the fleece.
The management of this species involves rest from grazing pressure
during the flowering and seed formation stage of growth. Proper
use for this species is 50 to 60 percent.
Watershed values exist more in terms of the association in which
it grows than as an individual species.
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