Agrostis hendersonii

Henderson's bent grass, Henderson's bent grass, Henderson's bent grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 3.2

Henderson's bent grass is a California native annual found in the central valley, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sacramento Valley, and northern San Joaquin Valley in vernal pool habitats at elevations below 300 meters. Flowering from May to July, this delicate grass produces small pale green to whitish flowers in dense, cylindric inflorescences up to 5 centimeters long. Growing 6 to 70 centimeters tall with slender, ascending stems, it forms compact clusters in seasonal wetland environments. Its leaves have narrow blades 1 to 4 centimeters long, approximately 1 millimeter wide, and distinctively feature ligules 1 to 4 millimeters in length. The plant's unique flowering structures include spikelets with bent awns 8 to 10 millimeters long, arising near the middle of each delicate lemma.

Habitat: Vernal pools

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 300 m

Bioregions: CaRF, n SNF, ScV, n SnJV

California counties: Marin, Butte, Tehama, Shasta, Calaveras, Merced

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