feather grass (Stipa pennatal L.) - genus of perennial plants of the family of grasses.In the world there are more than 300 species in the country - more than 80. These plants are widely distributed in the temperate zone of both hemispheres.In this article we take a closer look one representative of this kind, namely feather grass.
This plant is native to Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan.In our country, feather grass was originally distributed only in the steppes or areas with rocky slopes.However, about 20 years ago, its seeds were recorded in other regions of Russia, and now, this plant can be found almost everywhere, mainly on roadsides, in the meadows and fields.
feather grass (Photo shows the look of the plant) - a perennial grass that grows up to 1 m in height.A characteristic feature of it - long, narrow leaves are rough and fluffy panicles network-extending from the seeds, which are located in the ear.When the plant is still young and seeds it is not ripe, the skeleton of the hairs are very soft.If you touch them, just get the impression that some stroking a furry animal.But everything changes after a feather from mature grains.Edge of the ear gets tough, and it can hurt.We need these hairs to heavy seeds spread through the air - so the plant can be sown more territory.
Growing decorative purposes
feather grass - a beautiful plant.When the wind blows, it undulates and fall to the ground, forming a silver-gray wave.The impression is that the earth is covered with silk.Although it is very arbitrary - many such picture evokes nostalgia.Whatever it was, feather - a rare visitor in the gardens and parks.It's all about hard hairs - they are very thorny, so growers do not like to grow this plant.However, feather grass is still occasionally planted as an adjunct to other flowers and shrubs, to do some garden composition.
In other cases, it refers to the weeds, as it does considerable damage to farmers.It is not suitable as food for cattle, and if it is to prepare, together with hay, the animal may suffer - hard hairs can damage the mouth or esophagus.Young plants animals, on the contrary, eats very well.
feather grass is listed in the Red Book of Russia.This is due to the fact that its traditional habitats - Steppes - more plowing under crops or give useful for grazing.Although small amounts of this kind of plants are often, real feather grass steppes are already considered a valuable relic.
Application
feather grass is sometimes used in folk medicine.The chemical composition of this plant has not been studied, so it is not known which substances have an effect on the human body.However, herbalists and medicine men for many years used a decoction feather on milk for the treatment of thyroid disease, and a poultice of the leaves in paralysis.However, there is no evidence that these alternative methods will be effective or even safe.
