Poaceae
Grass Family
Feather-bunchgrass
Stipa viridula Trin.
- Notes: Stipa viridula is similar to porcupine grass, but the leaf blade is shorter (4” to 8”) and without a ligule but with tufts of hairs on either side at the top of the sheath. There are more spikelets in the inflorescence. The glumes are shorter (5/16”), and the mature floret is much shorter (3/16”). The awn is also shorter (about 1” long). Flowering is from mid- to late May. Fruiting begins in late May, and mature florets fall from the glumes from late June to mid-July. S. viridula is infrequent on dry prairies and railroad rights-of-way in northwest Iowa and very infrequent elsewhere in Iowa.
- Bibliography from Biodiversity Heritage Library
- Vascular Plants of Iowa
