Stipa comata

Needle-and-thread

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Needle-and-thread is a California native perennial grass found in grasslands and open woodlands across western North American regions at elevations up to 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this distinctive grass produces pale, delicate flowers with long, twisted awns that create a needle-like appearance. Growing 1.2 to 11 decimeters tall with slender, upright stems, it develops dense, compact flower clusters. Its narrow leaves are 10 to 30 centimeters long, typically with inrolled margins and a width of 0.5 to 4 millimeters. The plant's most distinctive feature is its striking white-hairy lemma with a persistent, scabrous awn that dramatically twists and bends, giving it the characteristic "needle-and-thread" appearance.

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono, Lassen, Siskiyou, Plumas

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.