Bromus vulgaris

Columbia brome

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Columbia brome is a native perennial grass found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada, and central western California in shady to open rocky woodland, ravines, and meadows at elevations below 1,900 meters. Flowering from May to August, this grass produces open, branching flower clusters 8 to 22 centimeters long with ascending to nodding branches. Growing 45 to 110 centimeters tall with multiple nodes between 3 to 7 points along its stem, it develops distinctive grass blades 13 to 25 centimeters long that are generally hairy on the upper surface. Its leaf ligules measure 2 to 6 millimeters long, and each spikelet features lemmas with soft marginal hairs and awns 6 to 11 millimeters in length. The grass develops slender, somewhat open flower clusters that are more than 2 centimeters wide, with individual spikelets ranging from 15 to 30 millimeters long.

Habitat: Shady to open rocky woodland, ravines, meadows

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 1900 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n&ampc SN, CW (exc SCoRI)

California counties: Butte, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Nevada, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Mariposa, Sonoma, Trinity, Sierra, Shasta, Lassen, Glenn, Monterey, Napa, Madera, Tehama, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Placer

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