Bouteloua gracilis

Blue grama

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Blue grama is a native perennial grass found in the eastern Mojave Desert Mountains, including Mid Hills, Clark Mountain Range, Ivanpah, and New York Mountains, on sandy to rocky slopes and in scrub, woodland, and pine forest habitats at elevations below 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to October, this grass produces small, delicate spikelets with spreading branches that create a distinctive comb-like appearance. Growing with ascending to erect stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms short rhizomes and develops compact clusters of narrow leaves less than 15 centimeters long and 2 millimeters wide. Its spikelets feature unique hairy-tufted bases and characteristic 2 to 3 florets with unequal awns emerging from the leaf clusters. The grass's remarkable ability to spread through short rhizomes and its adaptability to diverse desert and woodland environments make it a resilient and widespread species across its range.

Habitat: Sandy to rocky slopes, flats, drainages, scrub, woodland, pine forest

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: < 2700 m

Bioregions: SnBr, e DMtns (Mid Hills, Clark Mtn Range, Ivanpah, New York mtns), waif elsewhere

California counties: San Bernardino, Merced, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Kern, Sacramento

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