Bothriochloa ischaemum

King ranch bluestem, King Ranch Bluestem

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

King ranch bluestem is a naturalized perennial grass found in the Shasta County area of northern California in disturbed areas at elevations around 1,000 meters. Flowering from February to September, this grass produces pale reddish to purple-tinged flower branches 4 to 8 centimeters long. Growing with erect stems 40 to 100 centimeters tall, it has primarily basal leaves with blades 5 to 20 centimeters long. Its leaves are generally concentrated near the base of the plant, with a distinctive narrow membranous groove along the stem axis. The plant's small spikelets are sessile, measuring 3 to 4.5 millimeters long, with lemma awns 1 to 1.5 centimeters in length.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Feb-Sep

Elevation: +- 1000 m.

Bioregions: CaRF (Shasta Co.)

California counties: Riverside, Shasta

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