Alopecurus saccatus

Pacific foxtail

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Pacific foxtail is a California native annual found in northern coastal, northern coastal range, Cascade Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, central western, and southern western California regions in vernal pools and moist, open meadows at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces pale green to whitish flowers in dense, narrow spikes 1.5 to 6.5 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 12 to 45 centimeters tall, it has distinctively inflated upper leaf sheaths. Its leaves are narrow, measuring 1 to 8 centimeters long and 1 to 4 millimeters wide, with a ligule 1.5 to 5.5 millimeters long. The plant's delicate flower awns are uniquely bent, extending 3 to 5 millimeters beyond the lemma body.

Habitat: Vernal pools, moist, open meadows

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR, CaR, n&ampc SN, GV, CW, SW (exc ChI), MP

California counties: Santa Barbara, Alameda, Butte, Fresno, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sutter, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Colusa, Monterey, San Diego, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Yolo, Merced, Modoc, Tehama, Siskiyou, Plumas, Napa, Madera, Lake, Kern, Glenn, Contra Costa, Sierra, Shasta, Yuba, Lassen, San Benito, Amador, San Francisco, Calaveras

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