Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Needle and thread
Hesperostipa comata · includes its varieties and subspecies
Needle and thread is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 399 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Needle and thread at a glance
- Native in
- 399 counties, across 24 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Needle and thread is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 399 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 399 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 6 counties
- California 13 counties
- Colorado 47 counties
- Idaho 25 counties
- Illinois 3 counties
- Indiana 1 county
- Iowa 3 counties
- Kansas 12 counties
- Michigan 2 counties
- Minnesota 23 counties
- Montana 15 counties
- Nebraska 35 counties
- Nevada 15 counties
- New Mexico 18 counties
- New York 1 county
- North Dakota 45 counties
- Oklahoma 3 counties
- Oregon 16 counties
- South Dakota 25 counties
- Texas 16 counties
- Utah 26 counties
- Washington 18 counties
- Wisconsin 9 counties
- Wyoming 22 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (HECOC8). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Thicket Forming
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 5 to 20 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 6.6 to 8.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- HECO26
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Hesperostipa comata (PLANTS symbol HECO26), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources