Littleawn Needlegrass

Stipa robusta (Vasey) Scribn. Bull. U. vS. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 5: 23
1897.
Slipa viridula var. rohusia Vasey. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1: 56. 1890.
Stipa Vaseyi Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 11: 46. 1898. (Based on S. viridula var. robusta Vasey "not 5. robusta Nutt." However, 5. robusta Nutt. was given only as a synonym of 5. Sparta by Trinius (Trin. & Rupr. M^m. Acad. St.-P6tersb. VI. 7-: 69. 1843) and was not effectively published.)
Culms erect, robust, glabrous, mostly 1-1.5 meters tall; sheaths glabrous, villous at the throat and on the margin, a strong hispidulous line across the collar; ligule membranaceous, sometimes ciliate, 2-4 mm. long, shorter on the innovations; blades fiat or on the innovations slender and involute, mostly glabrous, scaberulous on the margins and toward the tip, as much as 60 cm. long and 8 mm. wide; panicles narrow, compact, pale or greenish, often more or less interrupted below, as much as 30 cm. long and 2 cm. wide, the branches appressed, several at each node, some short, some as much as 8 cm. long and naked at base, bearing several spikelets, strongly villous or hispid at the lower nodes; glumes about 1 cm. long, equal, acuminate to a fine soft point but scarcely awned, rather firm, 3-nerved or the first 5-nerved, the nerves inconspicuous; lemma 6-8 mm. long, at maturity medium-dark-brown, the callus rather blunt, about 0.5 mm. long, densely barbed with whitish hairs, the body narrow-fusiform, narrowed above into an obscure neck, villous all over with appressed white hairs, those of the summit 1.5-2 mm. long; awn mostly 2-3 cm. long, scabrous, rather obscurely twice geniculate, twisted to the second bend; anthers tipped with a minute tuft of hairs.
Type locality: Chenate Mountains, Presidio County, Texas {Nealley 714).
Distribution: Dry plains and hills, and dry open woods, western Texas to Colorado, Arizona, and northern Mexico.

Stipa lobata Swallen, Jour. Wash. Acad. 23: 199. 1933
Culms densely tufted, erect, scaberulous below the panicle, 35-85 cm. tall; blades flat or loosely folded toward the base, tapering into a fine point, as much as 50 cm. long, 1-4 mm. wide at the base, scabrous on the upper surface, glabrous beneath; ligule less than 0.5 mm. long; panicle narrow 10-18 cm. long, the branches appressed; glumes about equal, acuminate, 3-nerved, scabrous, 9-10 mm. long; lemma brownish, 6 mm. long, densely pubescent, with hairs 1-2 mm. long, the callus very short, blunt, the summit 2-lobed, the lobes 0.8-1.5 mm. long, awned from between the lobes; awn twice geniculate, 12-16 mm. long, the first and second segments appressed-hispid.
Type locality: Queen, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico {Amer. Gr. Nat. Herb. 819). Distribution: Rocky hills at medium altitudes, western Texas and New Mexico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differ entiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma body or surfa ce hairy, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awn twisted, spirally coiled at base, like a corkscrew, Lemma awn twice geniculate, bent twice, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Lemma surface pilose, setose or bristly, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Achnatherum robustum, commonly known as sleepy grass, (synonyms Stipa robusta, also Stipa vaseyi subsp. robusta) is a perennial plant in the Poaceae or grass family.