Hesperostipa comata (Trin. & Rupr.) Barkworth ssp. comata

vernacular needle and thread — subspecies · Poaceae

USDA: HECOC8
GBIF: 4270657
Rank: subspecies

needle and thread (Hesperostipa comata ssp. comata) — Platephotograph · Trevor Van LoonCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Hesperostipa

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 18 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 18 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: High
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -38 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 130 min.
Precipitation: 5–20 in/yr
pH range: 6.6–8.4
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Thicket Forming
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 3 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Moderate
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: White
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Summer
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 137,857
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 18 counties across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 18 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/HECOC8 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/4270657 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z