Agrostis hooveri

Hoover's bent grass, Hoover's bent grass, Hoover's bent grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Hoover's bent grass is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in southern Central Coast and southern South Coast Ranges in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, growing in dry sandy soils, open chaparral, and oak woodland at elevations below 600 meters. Flowering from April to August, this grass produces delicate, open panicles with thread-like branches and small greenish-white spikelets. Growing 30 to 80 centimeters tall with ascending stems, it develops fine, soft leaf sheaths and slender flat leaves that become inrolled. Its leaves are 10 to 16 centimeters long and 1 to 2 millimeters wide, with distinctive ligules 4 to 6 millimeters in length. The grass features short lemmas with bent awns emerging below the middle, creating a subtle, graceful appearance in its native habitats.

Habitat: dry sandy soils, open chaparral, oak woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 600 m

Bioregions: s CCo, s SCoRO (San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara cos.).

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