Mexican feather grass moves. Even on a still day, the thread-fine leaves find any air movement and translate it into something almost liquid, the whole clump shimmering with a silver-gold restlessness that few other plants can match. The genus name Nassella comes from the Latin for a narrow-necked fishing snare, and the name fits: once established in a favorable climate, this plant traps space for itself efficiently. Growing one to two feet tall in zones 7 to 10, it sends up silvery-yellow spikelets in fall that ripen into feathery seed heads with long, hair-like bristles, each seed capable of traveling a long distance.

In California and Australia it is listed as invasive, and those designations deserve weight before planting in any mild, dry climate where it can escape into native habitat. In colder regions it can be grown as an annual, kept in a container to limit seed dispersal, or used as a single-season focal point without the same ecological risk. Where it is ecologically appropriate, it thrives in lean, well-drained soil in full sun and tolerates drought with ease, though it may go semi-dormant in the hottest part of the summer. Rich, moist soils and humid southeastern summers do not suit it at all.