''Stipellula capensis'', the Mediterranean needle-grass, Cape rice grass, Mediterranean steppegrass or twisted-awned speargrass, is an annual grass from family

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

. The species ranges from the Canary Islands and Madeira through the Mediterranean basin and Western Asia to the Caucasus, Arabian Peninsula, and India, and is also native to the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sou ...

of South Africa. It is native to the Persian Gulf desert and semi-desert ecoregion."Persian Gulf Desert and Semi-desert." ''Biomes & Ecosystems'', Vol. 3, Robert Warren Howarth (ed.). Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, pp. 1000-1002. In Persian it is called

bahman Bahman (, ) is the eleventh and penultimate month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Bahman has thirty days. It begins in January and ends in February of the Gregorian calendar. The month is equivalent to ...

and is probably the same plant which was used in the

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

n festivity of

bahmanagān Bahmanagān () or BAHMANJANA (Arabicized form of Middle Persian Bahmanagān; forms such as Bahmaṇča () or Bahmaṇčena are also found) was a Zoroastrian Iranian festival which was maintained until the Mongol invasion by Iranian Muslims. It take ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q80707099, from2=2Q6519626 Stipeae Grasses of Asia Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of the Canary Islands Flora of India (region) Flora of Madeira Flora of Malta Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of the Caucasus Flora of the Mediterranean basin Flora of Pakistan Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1794