Stipa

Plant Characteristics

Habit		grass

Cultivation

Features:	✓	evergreen, deciduous

Scientific Names

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This article is about a type of grass. For the Italian aircraft designer, see Luigi Stipa. For the aircraft built by Caproni, see Stipa-Caproni.

Stipa is a genus of around 300 large perennial hermaphroditic grasses collectively known as feather grass, needle grass, and spear grass. They are placed in the subfamily Pooideae and the tribe Stipeae.

Many species are important forage crops. Several species such as Stipa brachytricha, S. arundinacea, S. splendens, S. calamagrostis, S. gigantea and S. pulchra are used as ornamental plants. One species, esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima), is used for crafts and extensively in paper making.

Read about Stipa in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Stipa (Greek, stipe, tow, in allusion to the plumose awns of some of the species). Gramineae. Perennial grasses with narrow involute lvs. and usually loose panicles: spikelets 1-fld.; glumes membranaceous, longer than the indurated lemma; lemma with a sharp hairy callus below and a stout persistent twisted awn above, falling from the glumes at maturity.—A large genus of about 100 species, throughout the world except the colder parts. Particularly characteristic of the plains, savannas, and steppes. The long-awned, sharp-pointed frs. of some species are troublesome or even dangerous to stock, especially sheep, on account of their tendency to work through the skin and into the vital organs. The species here mentioned are cult. for ornament, including the making of dry bouquets. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Species

Selected species:

• Stipa arundinacea
• Stipa avenacea - black oat grass
• Stipa baicalensis
• Stipa barbata
• Stipa bavarica
• Stipa brachytricha - Korean feather grass
• Stipa calamagrostis - (Common) spear grass
• Stipa canadensis
• Stipa capillata
• Stipa comata
• Stipa gigantea - giant feather grass
• Stipa grandis
• Stipa ichu - Peruvian feather grass
• Stipa joannis
• Stipa leucotricha - Texas winter grass
• Stipa mexicana
• Stipa mollis
• Stipa pennata - (Common) feather grass
• Stipa robusta - sleepy grass
• Stipa spartea - porcupine grass
• Stipa splendens
• Stipa tenacissima - esparto grass
• Stipa tirsa
• Stipa viridula - green needle grass

Gallery

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External links

• w:Stipa. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Stipa QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)