Anthoxanthum occidentale
California sweet grass
(c) Garth Harwood, some rights reserved (CC BY) · licence
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Native
Anthoxanthum occidentale (California sweet grass) is a native California grass in the Poaceae family, recognized by native status, height, and inflorescence structure.
California sweet grass is a native perennial grass found in coastal and central California bioregions including Northern Coast, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay, and southern coastal ranges in moist to dry conifer forest at elevations below 750 meters. Flowering from January to July, this grass produces pale yellow to light green spikelets in open, delicate clusters 7 to 13 centimeters long with lower branches often drooping. Growing with robust, tufted stems 60 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms dense clumps or spreads through elongated underground rhizomes. Its leaves are characteristically stiff and upright, 7 to 30 centimeters long and 5 to 15 millimeters wide, with leaf sheaths that are minutely rough to the touch. The grass has distinctive spikelets 5 to 6 millimeters long, with lemmas featuring clear, soft hairs at the base of lower florets.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 2 sympatric species; distinguished by native status, height, and inflorescence structure
Habitat and range
Habitat: Moist to dry, conifer forest
Elevation: < 750 m
California counties: Humboldt, Marin, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Del Norte, Mendocino, Monterey, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Shasta, Ventura
Outside California: to Washington
Bloom period
Anthoxanthum occidentale blooms Jan-Jul.
How to tell it apart
vs Phalaris: Anthoxanthum spikelets have 2 awned sterile lemmas flanking a smaller fertile floret and smell sweet (coumarin) when dried; Phalaris (canary grass) has laterally flattened spikelets with scale-like sterile lemmas and no awns.; vs Alopecurus: Anthoxanthum's panicle is open to spike-like with 2-glumed awned spikelets; Alopecurus (foxtail) has a dense cylindric spike of 1-flowered spikelets with a single bent awn.; vs Phleum: Anthoxanthum spikelets are awned in a loose to spike-like head; Phleum (timothy) has a very dense, stiff cylindric spike of flat spikelets with short-awned glumes.; vs Holcus: Anthoxanthum is sweet-scented with awned sterile lemmas; Holcus (velvet grass) is softly velvety-hairy with a pale purple-tinged panicle and only a short hooked awn.; vs Agrostis: Anthoxanthum has conspicuous 2 sterile awned lemmas per spikelet; Agrostis (bentgrass) has tiny 1-flowered, essentially awnless spikelets in a diffuse open panicle.
Frequently asked questions
Is Anthoxanthum occidentale native to California?
Yes. Anthoxanthum occidentale is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Anthoxanthum occidentale bloom?
Anthoxanthum occidentale blooms Jan-Jul.
Where in California does Anthoxanthum occidentale grow?
Anthoxanthum occidentale occurs in Humboldt, Marin, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Del Norte, Mendocino, Monterey and other counties, at elevations of < 750 m.
What plant family does Anthoxanthum occidentale belong to?
Anthoxanthum occidentale is in the Poaceae family, genus Anthoxanthum.
What habitat does Anthoxanthum occidentale grow in?
Anthoxanthum occidentale grows in Moist to dry, conifer forest.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.