Echinochloa crus-pavonis var. crus-pavonis

Gulf cockspur grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Gulf cockspur grass is a naturalized grass found in coastal and valley regions of California, including Northern California coastal, Northern California Coast Ranges, Great Valley, Southern California, and Peninsular Ranges in marshes and wet places, often growing directly in water, at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from June to September, this grass produces green to purplish spikelets in drooping clusters 10 to 30 centimeters long. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 30 to 150 centimeters tall, it has distinctively long leaf sheaths 7 to 20 centimeters in length, often colored with a purplish tinge. Its leaf blades are long and wide, measuring 12 to 60 centimeters in length and 10 to 25 millimeters across, with spikelets that feature distinctive curved awns 3 to 10 millimeters long. The fruit develops as a brownish structure nestled within the characteristic grass spikelet structure.

Habitat: Marshes, wet places, often in water

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, NCoRI, GV, SCo, PR, MP

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