Bromus tectorum

Cheat grass, downy chess, Downy Chess

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Cheat grass is a naturalized annual grass found throughout California in open, disturbed areas at elevations up to 3,400 meters. Flowering from May to August, this grass produces light brown to golden spikelets 10 to 20 millimeters long with spreading, nodding branches. Growing 5 to 40 centimeters tall with slender, upright stems, it quickly colonizes disturbed landscapes. Its leaf blades are narrow, 1 to 5 millimeters wide, often long-hairy near the base, with soft, slightly hairy leaf sheaths. The grass produces delicate awns 8 to 18 millimeters long that help its seeds disperse across open ground.

Habitat: Open, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 3400 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Los Angeles, Fresno, San Bernardino, Kern, San Diego, Riverside, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Orange, Plumas, Siskiyou, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Butte, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Santa Barbara, Yolo, Nevada, Shasta, Colusa, Calaveras, Sutter, Stanislaus, Sonoma, Sacramento, Placer, Napa, Monterey, Alpine, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Madera, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Sierra, Merced, San Benito, Del Norte, Alameda, Yuba, San Mateo

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