View allAll Photos Tagged Needle&Thread
Stipa comata var. comata, needle and thread grass, is abundant around and on top of the Chalk Buttes southwest of Ekalaka, Montana. It co-dominates open arid grasslands along with thickspike wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, little bluestem, prairie sand reed, and prairie Junegrass. The grass communities in the open understory of the Chalk Buttes are in good condition in terms of high native plant diversity and low exotic plant diversity.
Erysimum asperum, with it widely diverging fruits and striped stems, sits in the center foreground.
Stipa comata var. comata, needle and thread grass, is abundant around and on top of the Chalk Buttes southwest of Ekalaka, Carter County, Montana. It co-dominates open arid grasslands along with thickspike wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, little bluestem, prairie sand reed, and prairie Junegrass. The grass communities in the open understory of the Chalk Buttes are in good condition in terms of high native plant diversity and low exotic plant diversity.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
Crested wheatgrass, smooth brome, and needle-and-thread are three of the most common grasses in Montana in rangeland settings. They dominate perhaps the entire landscape in this area along highway 191 between Big Timber and Harlowton. On this particular day, an ATV with a tank of herbicide was driving all over this rangeland. Such an observation is common.
Loving the yarn still. After a couple years of this, I think I'm pretty happy with this body of work. Still so much to discover, to see what I an achieve. : ) Big fat embroidery. xo
With an awn about 20 cm long and florets approaching 2 cm long, this common robust form of Stipa comata in northern Arizona approaches Stipa spartea, which supposed occurs to the north and east of Arizona. The lemma hairs are uniformly whitish, however, in these robust specimens of Stipa comata.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
Soil profile: A representative soil profile of the Houdek series; the State Soil of South Dakota (original image by Bruce Kunze, USDA-NRCS).
Landscape: South Dakota has a large acreage of productive, prairie derived soils on glacial till (material deposited by glaciers). Houdek is a native soil of South Dakota and does not occur in any other state.
Most of these soils are medium textured and have high natural fertility. The Houdek soil was chosen because of its large extent and its importance to agriculture. The Professional Soil Scientists Association of South Dakota and the South Dakota chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society worked together to commemorate the importance of soil to South Dakota. It is fitting that Houdek loam, a typical prairie derived glacial till soil, was adopted as the state soil to acknowledge the importance soil has played in our State’s most important industry, agriculture.
The Houdek series was established in 1955 in Spink County, South Dakota. The series was separated from the Barnes series which was established in 1914. In 1990, the late Governor George Mickelson signed a House Bill into law, making the Houdek loam South Dakota’s Official State Soil.
The Houdek series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in glacial till on uplands. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow in the underlying material. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 22 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 47 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Argiustolls
The depth to carbonates ranges from 14 to 24 inches. Thickness of the mollic epipedon ranges from 8 to 20 inches and includes all or part of the Bt horizon. The soil contains 0 to 10 percent by volume of coarse fragments as pebbles. Some pedons contain up to 20 percent by volume of stones throughout.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cultivated. Small grain, corn, alfalfa, and feed grains are the principal crops. Native vegetation is big bluestem, little bluestem, western wheatgrass, green needlegrass, needleandthread, sideoats grama, blue grama, sedges, and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central South Dakota. The series is of large extent.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Spink County, South Dakota, 1955.
For more information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/sd-state-soi...
For a detailed description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/H/HOUDEK.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
Crested wheatgrass (left), smooth brome (center), and needle-and-thread (right) are three of the most common grasses in Montana in rangeland settings. They dominate perhaps the entire landscape in this area along highway 191 between Big Timber and Harlowton. On this particular day, an ATV with a tank of herbicide was driving all over this rangeland. Such an observation is common.
Kinda copying an idea from some of my flickr friends - many of them have been posting pics of their other hobbies lately and I thought it was a lovely idea.
I used to do a lot of embroidery - this is just a sample of a couple of things I made years and years ago. Been trying to finish a cross stitch I started 2 years ago and a patchwork quilt I started last November (the sewing machine broke and I've only just gotten it fixed!)
Most of what I make is to give as gifts, so I hardly have anything left at home to photograph! Not everything I make has pink roses on it... :-)
The perennial bunchgrass, Stipa comata var. comata, is one of the most common in the sagebrush steppe of the Idaho National Laboratory. This site lies just east of Lincoln Blvd and south of the main north entrance, Butte County, Idaho.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
The perennial bunchgrass, Stipa comata var. comata, is one of the most common in the sagebrush steppe of the Idaho National Laboratory. This site lies just east of Lincoln Blvd and south of the main north entrance, Butte County, Idaho.
Bluebunch wheatgrass form the large bunches front and center. This area shows evidence of being recently burned (e.g., low sagebrush cover combined with an abundance of green rabbitbrush). Bunchgrasses such as Agropyron spicatum, Elymus elymoides, Poa secunda, and Stipa comata abound in this setting whereas cheatgrass is restricted to the roadside.
Stipa comata occasionally predominates along the ridge top north of Fort Peck Resevoir, here looking north and east into the Kill Woman drainage with the Larb Hills in the distant background.
A common bunchgrass in open foothill settings of the Sandia Mountains. Individuals tend to be robust and with perhaps more conspicuously hairy inflorescences than those found in populations to the north (seeming combining phenotypes from Stipa neomexicana and S. spartea).
Yucca glauca sits in the center foreground. Stipa comata var. comata, needle and thread grass, is abundant around and on top of the Chalk Buttes southwest of Ekalaka, Montana. It co-dominates open arid grasslands along with thickspike wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, little bluestem, prairie sand reed, and prairie Junegrass. The grass communities in the open understory of the Chalk Buttes are in good condition in terms of high native plant diversity and low exotic plant diversity. Yucca glauca sits in the center foreground. Chalk Buttes are located south of Ekalaka, Carter County, Montana
Stipa comata occasionally predominates along the ridge top north of Fort Peck Resevoir, here looking north and east into the Kill Woman drainage with the Larb Hills in the distant background.
Original size here.
I used a 55-200mm zoom lens at 200mm mounted on the camera (D70) and a 50mm f/1.8 lens inverted in front of it (held by hand). To increase DOF as much as I could, I set the 200mm lens at minumun apperture (f/32) and used a speedlight (SB-800) out of the camera to illuminate the subject from one side.
The population variation of Stipa neomexicana and Stipa comata at this site suggests that the distinguishing features of these species, and perhaps all Hesperostipa species, could represent population variation in open arid vegetation of southwestern USA. Stipa neomexicana is distinguished by lemma awns pilose on all segments, the terminal segment with hairs 1–3 mm long. Stipa comata by lemmas usually evenly white-pubescent, sometimes glabrous immediately above the callus and lower ligules often lacerate. The size of the lemmas is often at 15 mm long or longer and the awns often over 90 cm long. This sort of variation at this site also calls into question the distinction of Stipa curtiseta and Stipa spartea relative to both Stipa comata and Stipa neomexicana.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
With an awn about 20 cm long and florets approaching 2 cm long, this common robust form of Stipa comata in northern Arizona approaches Stipa spartea, which supposed occurs to the north and east of Arizona. The lemma hairs are uniformly whitish, however, in these robust specimens of Stipa comata. The inflorescence partially enclosed in the leaf sheath is diagnostic of variety comata.
Hesperostipa comata (Trin. & Rupr.) Barkworth subsp. comata (syn. Stipa comata subsp. comata).
May 26, 2012, Wasatch foothills, Olympus Hills Park, approx 4,860 ft. elev.
Postscript: the area where these plants were growing were consumed by a fire that occurred on July 20, 2012 and that was started by adolescents playing with fireworks. As of Sept. 25, 2012 there was no trace of this species.
Green needlegrass is common in undisturbed open arid low elevation vegetation throughout Montana, but especially so in the eastern part of the state. This native bunchgrass also does well along roadsides and trail sides. The lemmas tip at the base of the awn is supposedly swollen, which is the main diagnostic trait of the genus Nassella (a segrated of Stipa). In reality, this species is very difficult to distinguish from the upland Stipa nelsonii (Columbia needlegrass, genus Achnatherum). Furthermore, green needlegrass hybidizes with diverse species of Stipa (in the broad sense).
The population variation of Stipa neomexicana and Stipa comata at this site suggests that the distinguishing features of these species, and perhaps all Hesperostipa species, could represent population variation in open arid vegetation of southwestern USA. Stipa neomexicana is distinguished by lemma awns pilose on all segments, the terminal segment with hairs 1–3 mm long. Stipa comata by lemmas usually evenly white-pubescent, sometimes glabrous immediately above the callus and lower ligules often lacerate. The size of the lemmas is often at 15 mm long or longer and the awns often over 90 cm long. This sort of variation at this site also calls into question the distinction of Stipa curtiseta and Stipa spartea relative to both Stipa comata and Stipa neomexicana.
Snuggle up with these soft Russian Nesting Plush Dolls. Each doll is made with designer fabrics. Each has a linen face with hand-painted features (inks are non-toxic, of course!).
11" tall, 3" thick, 7" at the widest
She is safe for little ones; no buttons or dealies to fall off and choke on. These dolls are not just for children and are perfectly suitable for adults! ;)
She is filled with hypo-allergenic fiber fill. Use her as a doll, decorative purposes or small pillow.
Handmade in the U.S.A. I try to use only American made materials when possible.
With an awn about 20 cm long and florets approaching 2 cm long, this common robust form of Stipa comata in northern Arizona approaches Stipa spartea, which supposed occurs to the north and east of Arizona. The lemma hairs are uniformly whitish, however, in these robust specimens of Stipa comata.
Crested wheatgrass, smooth brome, and needle-and-thread are three of the most common grasses in Montana in rangeland settings. They dominate perhaps the entire landscape in this area along highway 191 between Big Timber and Harlowton. On this particular day, an ATV with a tank of herbicide was driving all over this rangeland. Such an observation is common.
Stipa comata var. comata, needle and thread grass, co-dominates the grasslands around Medicine Rocks State Park, along with other native grasses such as Andropogon scoparius (little bluestem) and Koeleria macrantha (prairie Junegrass), but also the exotic Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass). Stipa comata var. comata, with its inflated leaf sheath that encloses the basal portion of the inflorescence, predominates throughout Montana in open arid settings, including in sagebrush steppe and open understory of Ponderosa pine. The inflorescence partially enclosed in the leaf sheath may facilitate the intertwining of the lemma awns such that fruit-containing florets disperse as a bunch and self-cache by the twisting of the awns with changing atmospheric humidity.
A common bunchgrass in open foothill settings of the Sandia Mountains. Individuals tend to be robust and with perhaps more conspicuously hairy inflorescences than those found in populations to the north (seeming combining phenotypes from Stipa neomexicana and S. spartea).
The sagebrush steppe in this region is commonly dominated by Bromus tectorum and very likely as a function of overgrazing. Native grasses including Bouteloua gracilis and Stipa comata var. comata (note the loose leaf sheaths) are common at these sites. Native perennial forbs belong to such genera as Delphinium and Sphaeralcea are sporadic.