Index / Search / Achnatherum thurberianum

§1 Plant

Achnatherum thurberianum (Piper) Barkworth

vernacular Thurber's needlegrass — species · Poaceae

USDA: ACTH7
GBIF: 10297337 syn.
Rank: species

Thurber's needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberianum) — Platephotograph · ealegerCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & 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

· 70 counties across 6 states/territories

Legend Native · 70 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: Low
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -23 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 100 min.
Precipitation: 6–16 in/yr
pH range: 6–7.5
Root depth: 10 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 2 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Gray-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: Mid Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 225,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Field Collections Only
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Medium
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 70 counties across 6 states/territories.

California view state ↗ 13 N ▾

Idaho view state ↗ 18 N ▾

Nevada view state ↗ 9 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 15 N ▾

Utah view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Washington view state ↗ 13 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/ACTH7 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/10297337 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

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