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Native Plant Propagation Guidelines:
grasses & sedges

Achnatherum lemmonii (Lemmon's needlegrass)

Category: 
grasses and sedges

Lemmon's needlegrass (photo by Keir Morse)

Perennial tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 15-90 cm tall. Leaves: Sheaths open, smooth to hairy with short hairs; lower blades 0.5-1.5 mm wide, upper blades to 2.5 mm wide; lower ligules 0.5-1.2 mm long, blunt to pointed, the upper ligules to 2.5 mm long. Flowers: Inflorescence a narrow panicle, 7-21 cm long, the branches straight, appressed to ascending, the spikelets appressed to the branches; florets somewhat flattened laterally rather than rounded; glumes 7-11.5 mm long, smooth; lemmas 3-4.5 mm long, leathery, smooth above, short-hairy below, the hairs 0.5 mm long, the tips with thick, 0.1 mm - long lobes at the ends, awned, the awns 16-30 mm long, the first segments rough or short-hairy, persistent; paleas 3/4 as long as the lemmas or nearly equal to them, the calluses 0.4-1.2 mm long, blunt (Douglas et al., 2001). Photo by Keir Morse.

Scientific Name: 

Achnatherum lemmonii (Vasey) Barkw. var. lemmonii (Stipa lemmonii [Vasey] Scribn.)

Family: 
Poaceae
English Name: 
Lemmon’s needlegrass

Geographical Range and Habitat Requirements

Ecological Setting: 

Open slopes in the lowland and montane sites (Douglas et al., 2001).

Soil Texture: 
n/a
Nutrients: 
n/a
Soil Reaction and Salinity: 
n/a
Moisture Regime: 

Dry.

Shade Tolerance: 
n/a
Successional Status: 

Open ground and open woods (Hitchcock, 1971).

BEC Zone and GOE Community Status: 

Component.

Uses

Site Rehabilitation: 
n/a
Wildlife: 

Valuable forage plant grazed mainly when young (Hitchcock, 1971).

Landscaping: 

Mix with other perennial grasses in meadow setting (B. Costanzo, personal communication).

First Nations: 
n/a
Other Uses: 
n/a

Seed Propagation

Flowering Time: 
n/a
Fruit Ripening Time: 
n/a
Seed Collection Time: 

Early June.

Crop Intervals: 

Annual.

Number of Seeds per Kilogram: 

  

Seed Viability: 

  

Fruit and Seed Collection and Extraction: 

Collect by hand, strip and de-awn (Rose et al., 1998).

Seed Storage: 

Store in paper bag and keep refrigerated through summer (Rose et al., 1998).

Fruit/Seed Dormancy and Treatment: 

Cold stratify in potassium nitrate and gibberellic acid and plant in three-cubic-inch containers in a peat:vermiculite (1:1) medium. Apply a low-nitrogen fertilizer once a week (Rose et al., 1998).

Vegetative Propagation

Good success with plant division. Divide plant in dormant season (B. Costanzo, personal communication), late fall to early spring.

Outplanting Characteristics and Requirements

n/a

Seed and Cutting Propagation Techniques

n/a

Additional Information and Photos

For more information and pictures, visit the E-Flora BC website at www.eflora.bc.ca.

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