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Nassella pulchra
Purple needlegrass is a native perennial bunch grass of California and Baja California, forming upright tufts up to about 1 m tall. It thrives with deep roots, drought tolerance, and full sun in well-drained soil.
Nassella pulchra, basionym Stipa pulchra, is a species of grass known by the common names purple needlegrass and purple tussockgrass. It is native to the U.S. state of California, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and mountain ranges, as well as the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, and Baja California.
It grows in many types of local habitat, including grassland, chaparral, and oak woodland. It grows well on clay and serpentine soils.
In addition to supporting native oaks, it supports common branded skipper and Uncas skipper caterpillars.
This grass is the preferred material used by the California Indian basket weavers for teaching the art of basket weaving.
Nodding needlegrass · Lobed Needle Grass · Nassella ibarrensis · Foothill needlegrass · Texas wintergrass · Nassella mexicana · Finestem needlegrass · Serrated tussock · Green needlegrass · Needlegrass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Nassella pulchra 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.
