Stipa ichu (Ruiz & Pav.) Kunth

Stipa ichu (R. & P.) Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 60. 1829
Jarava Ichu R. & P. Fl. Per. 1: 5. 179S.
Jarava usilata Pers. Syn. PI. 1: 6. 1805. (Based on Jarava Ichu R. & P.)
Slipa Jarava Beauv. Agrost. 18, 179. 1812. (Based on Jarava Ichu R. & P.)
Stipa erioslachva H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 127. 1815. (Type from Ecuador.)
Jarapha Ichu R. & P.; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 643. as synonym of Slipa Ichu. 1840.
Jarapha arundinacea Willd.; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 643. as synonym of Slipa erioslachya. 1840.
5(i7>a pungens Nees & Meyen; Nees, Nova Acta Acad. Leop. -Carol. 19; Suppl. 151. 1841. (Type
from Peru.) Slipa gynerioiilei Philippi, Anal. Univ. Chile 36: 203. 1870. (Type from Mendoza, Argentina.) Slipa Liebmannii Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 76. 1886. (Type from Veracruz, Mexico.) Slipa Ichu var. gynerioides Hack.; Stuck. Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires U: 98. 1904. (Based on
Stipa gvnerioides Philippi.) Slipa Ichu var. gynerioides f. inlerrupta Hack.; Stuck. Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires III. 14: 76.
1911. (Type from Argentina.) Stipa Ichu var. pungens Pilger. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 11: 778. 1933. (Based on S. pungens
Nees & Mey.)
Culms closely cespitose, often in large bunches, erect, slender, wiry, glabrous, mostly 80100 cm. tall, sometimes depauperate; sheaths glabrous or scaberulous, minutely hispidulous at the throat; ligule rather firm, about 2 mm. long, on the innovations much shorter; blades of the culm flat or involute, as much as 4 mm. wide, those of the numerous innovations slender, involute, wiry, mostly scabrous, 30-60 cm. long; panicle narrow, nodding, shining, pale or purplish, densely flowered, often inclosed at base in the uppermost more or less inflated sheath, 15-40 cm. long, the numerous branches appressed, many-flowered, the axis scaberulous, the pedicels very scabrous; glumes about 1 cm. long, less than 0.5 mm. wide, equal, hyaline, papery, gradually narrowed to a fine soft point, faintly 3-nerved, glabrous; lemma fusiform, about 2.5 mm. long, rather sparsely short-pubescent, narrowed into a short neck bearing a conspicuous tuft of ascending or spreading hairs 3-4 mm. long; avtm slender, 1-2 cm. long, flexuous or obscurely twice geniculate, scaberulous, the lower part more or less twisted. This species is distinguished by the small fruits, with a crown of long hairs. In the Andes the grass is commonly known as "ichu."
Type locality: Peru.
Distribution: Dry hills and plains, Mexico through the Andes to Argentina.

Jarava ichu, commonly known as Peruvian feathergrass, ichhu, paja brava, paja ichu, or simply ichu (Quechua for straw), is a grass species in the family Poaceae native to the Americas. It is found growing in a vast area: Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. It is a common grass of the Andean altiplano. It is used as fodder for livestock.

Under the synonym Stipa ichu, it has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.