Single Record

Participant Info

Species
Eriocoma occidentalis [Achnatherum occidentale] [Stipa occidentalis] [Stipa stricta var. sparsiflora]
Family
Poaceae
CommonName
Western needlegrass
Presence
maybe
Status
native
EarliestDate
1984
LatestDate
1984
Ecosystem
montane
Geobotanical
SSanjuans
Counties
Rio Grande, Saguache
Passes
WildlifePreserves
Other Localities
Comments
NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Western needlegrass has only three vouchered locations in the Watershed: Benino Creek, Saguache Co; La Garita Creek, Saguache Co; and west fork of San Francisco Creek, Rio Grande Co. All were submitted by B. H. M. Mooers on the same collecting trip in 1984. Given the difficulties in determining Eriocoma species (once Stipa, then Achnatherum), it behooves some caution in declaring Eriocoma occidentale as present in the Watershed. In the USA, the range of the species is all Western states except for Arizona and New Mexico. If the determinations of Mooers are correct, his Watershed locations would lie at the very southeastern corner of the USA range, and be the only occurrences in the entire Rio Grande drainage.