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Hesperostipa spartea
Also called Plains Porcupinegrass, Porcupine Bunchgrass, Needlegrass, Porcupine Grass, Porcupine Needlegrass
Porcupinegrass (Hesperostipa spartea) is a native North American perennial bunchgrass, grown as an ornamental for prairie-style and native plant gardens and used in grassland restoration. It thrives in full sun and poor, well-drained soils, and its long twisted awns are its signature feature.
Hesperostipa spartea, formerly Stipa spartea, is a species of grass known by the common names porcupine grass, western porcupine grass, short-awn porcupine grass, porcupine needlegrass, and big needlegrass. It is native to North America, where it is widespread from British Columbia to Ontario in Canada and through the central and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It is a bunchgrass species in the genus Hesperostipa.
Hesperostipa spartea is cultivated as an ornamental grass for native plant gardens and natural landscaping, and as a plant for Great Plains—Prairie habitat restoration.
Hesperostipa spartea is native to the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies of North America. It is also found in grasslands of the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada and the Western United States.
Native Americans such as the Omaha and Pawnee made brushes from this plant by tying the awns together and burning off the sharp seeds at the ends.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hesperostipa spartea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
