Needle and thread is a cool season perennial bunch grass.

Seed stalks reach one to three feet in height, but the leaves are mostly basal (positioned or arising from the base).

Grass is used as a grazing grass, usually more often for cattle than sheep.

Sharp tipped awns (narrow, bristle like appendage usually at tip or dorsal surface) become prominent when a mature green and can often injure a sheep’s eyes, mouth and flesh, thus giving the other common name Spear grass.

The seeds serve as a food source for songbirds and rodents.

For a complete Refuge species list

For in-depth plant information
connect with the U.S. Dept Agriculture Plant Data Base

Last Updated: 1/14/09

Plants that grow naturally on this short grass prairie are called "native" plants. The Refuge has four major groups.

• Grasses
• Wildflowers
• Shrubs
• Trees

Vegetation on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal is a mixture of different grasses, shrubs. semi-shrubs, forbes and wildflowers.

Several species of prairie grass grow on the Refuge but the most common are the perennial BLUE GRAMA and WESTERN WHEAT GRASS.

Learn more about prairie grasses at
FRONT RANGE LIVING.