Dactylis glomerata

Orchard grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Orchard grass is a naturalized perennial grass found in California Floristic Province and Great Basin regions in disturbed, often moist sites at elevations below 2,410 meters. Flowering from May to August, this introduced grass produces dense, cluster-like panicles with green to greenish-gray flowers in compact, one-sided clusters. Growing in dense tufts with multiple stems 30 to 200 centimeters tall from short underground rhizomes, it forms thick clumps in open areas. Its leaf blades are 3 to 6 millimeters wide, slightly rough-textured, with translucent membranous ligules 4 to 9 millimeters long that are fringed or toothed at the tip. The spikelets are laterally compressed with 2 to 6 florets, each with short-awned tips that give the grass a distinctive textured appearance.

Habitat: Disturbed, often moist sites

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2410 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, GB

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

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