Nassella is a New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 genus of about 115 perennial bunchgrasses found from North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 through South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The Latin name nassa means "a basket with a narrow neck." It is now a segregate from the genus Stipa

Stipa

This article is about a type of grass.For Speech Transmission Index for Public Address Systems, see Speech transmission index.For the Italian aircraft designer, see Luigi Stipa...

and includes many New World species formerly classified in that genus.

Nasella is characterized by strongly overlapping lemma margins and reduced, veinless paleas. The lemma tips are fused into the "crown," a short membrane that surrounds the base of the lemma. The rim of the crown usually has hairs.

Many species form both cross-pollinating and self-pollinating florets in the terminal panicle. The self-pollinating florets have 1 – 3 small anthers; the cross-pollinating florest have 3 longer anthers. Some species have self-pollinating inflorescences hidden in their basal leaf sheaths. These hidden inflorescences lack glumes and usually lack awns.

California species

• Nassella pulchra
  Nassella pulchra
  Nassella pulchra is a species of grass known by the common name purple needlegrass. It is native to California, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and mountain ranges, as well as the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, and Baja California.It grows in many...
  
  (Purple Needlegrass) is a native grass of California that was once a dominant species in California grassland
  Grassland
  Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
  
  s before invasive European grasses became dominant. The seeds of N. pulchra were an important food source for many California Indian tribes. Today, it is the 'State Grass of California' and plays an important role in native grassland restoration and erosion control.

• Nassella lepida (Foothill needle grass) is a California native bunch grass.

Horticultural species

• Nassella gigantea - Giant Feather Grass
• Nassella tenuissima - Mexican Feather Grass is an attractive, drought-tolerant bunchgrass with fine leaves and a narrow inflorescence that sways gracefully in the wind. Unfortunately, it readily escapes from cultivation in nearby disturbed areas including sidewalk cracks, driveways, and tree wells. It is well established as a weed in the area of San Francisco Bay, California, and has been found as an escape in Oregon.

External links

• Nassella at Calflora.