Anthoxanthum odoratum

Sweet vernal grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Sweet vernal grass is a naturalized perennial grass found in northern California coastal regions, Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, central Sierra Nevada, central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area in meadows, pastures, forest openings, and disturbed sites at elevations generally below 1,600 meters. Flowering from May to June, this grass produces pale yellow to greenish flowers in dense, compact spike-like inflorescences 2 to 14 centimeters long. Growing with erect stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall, it has soft, slightly hairy stems with distinctive leaf characteristics. Its leaves have upper blades 3 to 6 centimeters long, 3 to 10 millimeters wide, with soft hairs and small auricles at the base of the blade. The plant's spikelets are 7 to 10 millimeters long with soft, colorless hairs at the base of the lemma.

Habitat: Meadows, pastures, openings in conifer forest, disturbed sites

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: generally < 1600 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRO, NCoRI, n&ampc SN, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Placer, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Nevada, Butte, Yolo, Trinity, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Lake, Fresno, El Dorado, Calaveras, Alameda, Marin, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Yuba, Mariposa, Solano, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Tuolumne, Napa, Merced

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