Agrostis elliottiana

Sierra bent grass, Sierra Bent Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sierra bent grass is a California native annual grass found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, and northern Sacramento Valley in vernal pool margins at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from April to May, this delicate grass produces small, pale green to whitish spikelets in an open, spreading panicle 5 to 20 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 5 to 45 centimeters tall, it forms loose, thread-like branches with spikelets clustered near the branch tips. Its narrow leaves are 0.5 to 4 centimeters long, less than 1 millimeter wide, and range from flat to slightly rolled. The plant features distinctive wavy awns 3 to 10 millimeters long emerging near the tip of each lemma, creating a delicate, feathery appearance.

Habitat: Vernal pool margins

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, CaRF, n SNF, n ScV

California counties: Calaveras, Napa, Sonoma, Shasta, Placer, Butte, Amador, Tehama, Sacramento, Tuolumne

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