Aegilops neglecta

Three-awned goat grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Three-awned goat grass is a naturalized annual found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and Sacramento Valley in disturbed fields and roadsides at elevations of 30 to 800 meters. Flowering from May to July, this grass produces pale tan to light green spikelets with distinctive long awns up to 5 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 25 to 35 centimeters tall, it forms dense clusters in open disturbed areas. Its leaf blades are 2 to 8 centimeters long, 3 to 4 millimeters wide, with long hairs and ciliate margins that give the plant a delicate, hairy appearance. The plant's unique spikelets fall as a whole at maturity, with laterally compressed fertile spikelets that are slightly inflated or urn-shaped.

Habitat: Disturbed fields, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 30-800 m

Bioregions: KR, NCo, SN, ScV

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.