Stipa orientalis Trin.

This is a good forage grass in desert steppe regions.

A high alpine species collected at 4000 m in Ladak.

Perennial, densely tufted; old basal sheaths forming large clumps, yellowish, slightly glossy, margins ciliate. Culms 15–35 cm tall, 2–3-noded, nodes purple, internodes puberulous. Basal leaves 1/2–2/3 length of culms; leaf sheaths shorter than internodes; leaf blades filiform, convolute, 4–15 cm, abaxial surface scaberulous-puberulous; ligule lanceolate, 2–4 mm, ciliate. Panicle contracted, 4–8 cm, branches frequently enclosed by inflated uppermost leaf sheath. Spikelets green, or occasionally faintly purple-tinged, with silvery tips; glumes narrowly lanceolate, lower usually slightly longer, 1.8–2.2 cm, apex scarious, finely long-acuminate; callus pungent, ca. 2 mm; lemma 7–8 mm, pilose in ventral line and along midvein, intermediate veins pilose at least below middle, a ring of short soft hairs at awn articulation; awn deciduous, 4–6 cm, hairy throughout, 2-geniculate, column 0.7–1.2 cm to first bend, 0.5–0.8 cm to second bend, shortly hairy, hairs 0.5–1 mm, bristle 3–4 cm, plumose, hairs 3–4 mm at base reducing toward apex. Fl. and fr. May–Jul.

Tufted perennial 20-35 cm high, rarely less. Leaf-blades involute and setaceous, up to c. 1 mm wide when flattened, ± smooth to scabrid on the lower (outer) surface; ligule 2-3 mm long. Panicle contracted, fairly dense, 5-10 cm long, partially enclosed by the inflated sheath of the uppermost leaf, occasionally fully exserted. Glumes narrowly lanceolate, long-acuminate, (15-)20-35(-42)mm long, sometimes faintly tinged with purple, 3-nerved; lemma terete, 6-10 (-12) mm long (including callus), shortly pubescent in the lower half but with rows of short hairs extending into the upper and with a crown of short hairs at the tip; callus acuminate, pungent, 1.5-2.5 mm long. Awn bigeniculate, articulated at the base, 3.5-6(-7) cm long; column shortly hairy (hairs 0.4-1 mm long); bristle plumose with hairs (2-)3-5 mm long.

Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, W Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Europe (Ural)].

Distribution: Kashmir: southern USSR from the Caspian Sea to Mongolia; Iran to the Himalayas and Tibet.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August.

Rocky slopes, mountain valleys, desert steppes; 400–5100 m.