Agrostis tandilensis

Kennedy's bent grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Kennedy's bent grass is a naturalized annual grass found in deltaic Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley and southern California coastal regions, particularly in vernal pools at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from April to May, this grass produces delicate, pale green to white spikelets in compact, cylindrical clusters 2 to 5 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 9 to 21 centimeters tall, it has fine, flat leaf blades that become inrolled as they mature. Its leaves feature short ligules 2 to 2.5 millimeters long, with proximal blades measuring 2 to 5 centimeters and less than 1 millimeter wide. The spikelets have distinctive bent awns less than 6 millimeters long, with lemma tips featuring four teeth, two shorter than 1 millimeter and two slightly longer.

Habitat: Vernal pools

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: Deltaic GV (Solano Co.), s SCo (San Diego Co.), expected elsewhere

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