Index / Search / Achnatherum lettermanii

§1 Plant

Achnatherum lettermanii (Vasey) Barkworth

vernacular Letterman's needlegrass — species · Poaceae


USDA
ACLE9
GBIF
10448760 syn.
Rank
species
Letterman's needlegrass (Achnatherum lettermanii)
Platephotograph · Matt LavinCC BY-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Achnatherum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 118 counties across 10 states/territories
Legend Native · 118 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-28 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
6–20 in/yr
pH range
6–7.6
Root depth
12 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Slow
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
2 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Summer
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
225,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 118 counties across 10 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 6 N
California view state ↗ 11 N
Colorado view state ↗ 18 N
Idaho view state ↗ 16 N
Montana view state ↗ 2 N
Nevada view state ↗ 7 N
New Mexico view state ↗ 8 N
Oregon view state ↗ 10 N
Utah view state ↗ 29 N
Wyoming view state ↗ 11 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ACLE9 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/10448760 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z