Danthonia unispicata

One-spike oat grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

One-spike oat grass is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascades, Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, Transverse Ranges, Southeastern desert mountains, and Mojave Province in dry meadows, rocky slopes, and open conifer forests at elevations of 400 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces pale straw-colored flowers in slender, typically solitary spikelets up to 25 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms dense tufted clusters with hairy leaf sheaths. Its leaves are narrow and sparse, with blades 3 to 8 centimeters long and 1 to 3 millimeters wide, slightly flat to rolled, and covered in papillate hairs. Each leaf lemma bears a distinctive 4 to 9 millimeter-long awn with delicate marginal hairs.

Habitat: dry meadows, rocky slopes, open sites in conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 400-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SNH, SnJV, WTR, SnBr, SnJt, MP

California counties: Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Lassen, Mariposa, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, San Bernardino, San Diego, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Tulare, Yuba, Alpine, Merced, Trinity, Butte, Glenn, Inyo, Madera, Placer, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Colusa, Lake, Riverside, Ventura

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