needle and thread

 

Needle-and-thread grass has got to be my favorite grass native to New Mexico.

Right now it is a shimmering, glorious wonder, made all the more so, by this season's wind.
I'm sure you can guess why it is called needle-and-thread grass. The seed is very hard and very sharp, for drilling into the hard soil.

I became acutely aware of this while using my fingers to push the seeds into the soil, and by the way, fingers are a lot softer than soil. Ouch.

The seeds also have unidirectional hairs, which keep the seeds penetrating deeper. This makes it a misery for pets who can get the seed lodged in fur, skin, and ears.

The long awn is, of course, the "thread," and it can be 8-12 inches long, catching the wind and helping the seeds disperse. Before the seeds are ripe however, the silky awns ripple in waves in the wind, in ways that photographs can not capture.

Hazards to pets aside, it is a beautiful grass.