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Native Grasses <br />16. Green needlegrass (Stipa viridula) <br />Cool season, mid grass. Scattered over most of <br />Colorndo. Plains, dry slopes, foothills and mountain <br />meadows. <br />Produces a fair amount of forage for eazly spring and <br />summer grazing. The plants cannot withstand heavy <br />spring use year after year. The plants decrease under <br />those conditions. <br />A rather coarse bunchgrass. Culms are 1 1/2 to 3 feet <br />tall. The leaves are mostly basal, about one-third to one- <br />half as long as the culms. The cu{ms, leaves and the <br />inflorescence are a uniform bright green color. The <br />inflorescence is a narrow, loose, spike-like panicle 4 to 8 <br />inches long. The glumes are large and papery. The lemma <br />has an awn that is 3(4 to 1 ((4 inches long, bent twice. <br />Y <br /> <br />Page l4 <br />17 Sj~e-oats gr~~outelocta cur8yendulal <br />Warm season, mid to tall grass. Widely distributed <br />over the eastern half of the state an~~ in the south <br />extending west to La Plata County. Plains, hillsides, <br />mesas and valleys. <br />Produces a considerable amount of forage per plant <br />and is an important source of forage wherever it is <br />abundant. It is readily eaten when green and is a good <br />summer and winter forage. <br />An erect bunchgrass. Strong, short rhizomes may be <br />present, but the plant growth is uswtlly like a bunchgrass. <br />Culms are 1 to 3 l/2 feet tall, dark purplish at the nodes. <br />Leaf blades up to 12 inches long, flat, the margins with <br />scattered long hairs from pimple-like bases. The <br />inflorescence is a 4 to 12-inch raceme of 10 to 50 one- <br />side spikes. The spikes droop, turn ~:o one side of the zig- <br />zag central stem. The individual spikes fall entirely when <br />mature, and leave a purplish short stalk. <br />