Needle Grass

Stipa hohenackeriana Trinius & Ruprecht has been reported from Xinjiang. It differs from S. lessingiana by the smooth outer surface of the leaf blades, longer ligules (1.5–5 mm), and scabrid awn column.

Stipa lessingiana is a good forage grass in steppe regions.

Perennial, tufted. Culms 30–60 cm tall, 2–3-noded. Basal leaves 1/2–2/3 length of culms; leaf sheaths smooth or margins ciliate, longer than internodes; leaf blades setaceous, up to 35 cm, 0.3–0.5 mm in diam., outer surface scabrid at least in apical part; ligule of basal leaves 0.2–0.5 mm, rounded, ciliate, of culm leaves 1–2 mm. Panicle narrow, 10–20 cm, base enclosed by uppermost leaf sheath. Spikelets yellowish green; glumes subequal, linear-lanceolate, 2–3 cm, apex attenuate into hyaline filament; callus pungent, 1.5–2 mm; lemma 8–10 mm, pubescent, densely in lower part and sparsely in upper part, a ring of short hairs at apex; awn deciduous, 15–20 cm, 2-geniculate, column 2–3 cm to first bend, smooth, glossy, 1–1.5 cm to second bend, bristle 8–15 cm, plumose, hairs 2–3 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Jul. 2n = 44.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, S Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan; SW Asia (Caucasus, Iran), E Europe].

Rocky hill slopes, piedmont regions; 800–1300 m.

Stipa lessingiana, called Lessing feather grass, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Stipa, found in steppes from Greece east to Mongolia, including the countries bordering the Black and Caspian Seas, Central Asia, western Siberia, the Altai, and Xinjiang in China. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

On a 2019 postage stamp of Azerbaijan