Elymus ponticus

Tall wheat grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Tall wheat grass is a naturalized perennial grass found in the Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, southwestern California, and Modoc Plateau in disturbed, often alkaline areas at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from June to July, this grass produces pale green to wheat-colored flower spikes in dense, upright clusters 10 to 42 centimeters long. Growing in clumped tufts with sturdy stems 50 to 220 centimeters tall, it forms dense, compact bunches without underground rhizomes. Its leaf blades are 2 to 6.5 millimeters wide, typically rolled or folded, with prominent raised veins and short auricles at the leaf base. The plant produces compact spikelets with 6 to 12 tightly clustered florets, each attached individually along the flowering stem.

Habitat: Disturbed, often alkaline areas

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: SN, ScV, SW, MP

California counties: Amador, Tuolumne, San Bernardino, El Dorado, San Diego, Riverside, Sonoma, Sierra, Kern, Placer, Butte, Plumas, Alameda, Marin, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo, Modoc, Ventura, Los Angeles, Napa, Santa Cruz

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