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Stipa barbata
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Stipa barbata
Stipa barbata, commonly known as the bearded feather grass or silver feather grass, is a species of perennial grass native to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant in the Mediterranean Basin, and temperate Asia. It is valued for its elegant, feathery awns that create a shimmering effect in the wind. The plant typically grows to 60–90 cm in height and thrives in well-drained soils in full sun, making it popular for borders, gravel gardens, and naturalistic planting schemes.
Stipa barbata is a perennial, tufted bunchgrass forming loose clumps 30–76 cm tall. Culms are erect, cylindrical, glabrous, with hollow internodes. Basal leaves have glabrous or scabrid sheaths, sometimes with short marginal cilia, and ligules 0.4–3.8 mm long; blades are 170–235 mm × 0.4–0.8 mm, rolled, acute, glabrous or scabrid beneath, and densely scabrid above. Cauline leaves (2–3 per culm) are similar but shorter, with ligules 2.5–10 mm and blades 35–62 mm long; the uppermost leaf may partially enclose the panicle.
The inflorescence is a narrow, elongated panicle 17–45 cm long, lax and diffuse, with glabrous rachis and 2–3 branches per whorl bearing numerous spikelets. Glumes are subequal, narrowly lanceolate, 5‑nerved, hyaline, often green‑ or purple‑tinged; the lower glume 34–38 mm with an awn 10–17 mm, the upper 31–34 mm with an awn 5–17 mm.
Lemmas are 9–13 mm, fusiform, 5‑nerved, with appressed hairs forming narrow bands, glabrous above but pubescent below the awn articulation. The awn is conspicuously long, 120–190 mm, geniculate or bigeniculate, twisted at the base, plumose throughout, with hairs 0.7–2.2 mm increasing in length toward the seta. The callus is 2–2.9 mm, narrow, acute, densely hairy, with a circular basal scar.
Paleas are 8–10 mm, lanceolate and glabrous; lodicules 0.9–1.9 mm, hyaline and lanceolate; anthers 3–7 mm, yellow; ovary with 2–3 plumose styles; caryopsis fusiform, 5.7–8.3 mm long. Chromosome number: 2n = 44.
The species is well characterized by its plumose awn along the entire length, producing a silvery, shimmering effect in the wind. It differs readily from Stipa iberica, which has a glabrous awn column and longer plumose hairs on the seta. Adapted to dry, open habitats, S. barbata has rigid, narrow leaves that reduce water loss, is semi‑evergreen, and produces flowering culms in spring to early summer.
The species was first described by René Louiche Desfontaines in Flora Atlantica (1798).
Stipa with rigid leaves, striated on one side; panicle loose and elongated; awns very long, bearded from base to apex. It differs from Stipa plumosa L. by its rigid, glaucous, somewhat flattened leaves, striated on one side, broader, with serrated margins; and by its very long awn, densely hairy throughout from base to tip. Native to uncultivated hills in the vicinity of Mascara and Tlemcen (northwestern Algeria).
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Stipa barbata
Stipa barbata, commonly known as the bearded feather grass or silver feather grass, is a species of perennial grass native to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant in the Mediterranean Basin, and temperate Asia. It is valued for its elegant, feathery awns that create a shimmering effect in the wind. The plant typically grows to 60–90 cm in height and thrives in well-drained soils in full sun, making it popular for borders, gravel gardens, and naturalistic planting schemes.
Stipa barbata is a perennial, tufted bunchgrass forming loose clumps 30–76 cm tall. Culms are erect, cylindrical, glabrous, with hollow internodes. Basal leaves have glabrous or scabrid sheaths, sometimes with short marginal cilia, and ligules 0.4–3.8 mm long; blades are 170–235 mm × 0.4–0.8 mm, rolled, acute, glabrous or scabrid beneath, and densely scabrid above. Cauline leaves (2–3 per culm) are similar but shorter, with ligules 2.5–10 mm and blades 35–62 mm long; the uppermost leaf may partially enclose the panicle.
The inflorescence is a narrow, elongated panicle 17–45 cm long, lax and diffuse, with glabrous rachis and 2–3 branches per whorl bearing numerous spikelets. Glumes are subequal, narrowly lanceolate, 5‑nerved, hyaline, often green‑ or purple‑tinged; the lower glume 34–38 mm with an awn 10–17 mm, the upper 31–34 mm with an awn 5–17 mm.
Lemmas are 9–13 mm, fusiform, 5‑nerved, with appressed hairs forming narrow bands, glabrous above but pubescent below the awn articulation. The awn is conspicuously long, 120–190 mm, geniculate or bigeniculate, twisted at the base, plumose throughout, with hairs 0.7–2.2 mm increasing in length toward the seta. The callus is 2–2.9 mm, narrow, acute, densely hairy, with a circular basal scar.
Paleas are 8–10 mm, lanceolate and glabrous; lodicules 0.9–1.9 mm, hyaline and lanceolate; anthers 3–7 mm, yellow; ovary with 2–3 plumose styles; caryopsis fusiform, 5.7–8.3 mm long. Chromosome number: 2n = 44.
The species is well characterized by its plumose awn along the entire length, producing a silvery, shimmering effect in the wind. It differs readily from Stipa iberica, which has a glabrous awn column and longer plumose hairs on the seta. Adapted to dry, open habitats, S. barbata has rigid, narrow leaves that reduce water loss, is semi‑evergreen, and produces flowering culms in spring to early summer.
The species was first described by René Louiche Desfontaines in Flora Atlantica (1798).
Stipa with rigid leaves, striated on one side; panicle loose and elongated; awns very long, bearded from base to apex. It differs from Stipa plumosa L. by its rigid, glaucous, somewhat flattened leaves, striated on one side, broader, with serrated margins; and by its very long awn, densely hairy throughout from base to tip. Native to uncultivated hills in the vicinity of Mascara and Tlemcen (northwestern Algeria).
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