Calamagrostis breweri

Short hair reed grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Short hair reed grass is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges and northern Sierra Nevada at elevations of 1,700 to 2,600 meters in moist woodlands, meadows, lake margins, and streambanks. Flowering from July to September, this grass produces delicate inflorescences 5 to 8 centimeters long with open, spreading branches. Growing in dense tufts with stems 20 to 54 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive clumps without underground rhizomes. Its predominantly basal leaves are narrow, flat or slightly rolled, with a prow-shaped tip and measuring less than 2 millimeters wide. The grass produces distinctive spikelets with awns 3.5 to 5.5 millimeters long that extend slightly beyond the glume tips, giving the plant a delicate, feathery appearance.

Habitat: Moist woodland, meadows, lake margins, streambanks

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 1700-2600 m

Bioregions: KR, n SNH

California counties: El Dorado, Siskiyou, Nevada, Placer, Mono, Fresno, Trinity, Amador, Alpine, Madera, Humboldt, Mariposa, Tulare, Kern, Tuolumne

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