Enneapogon desvauxii

Nine-awned pappus grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Nine-awned pappus grass is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native perennial found in the eastern Mojave Desert in rocky slopes, crevices, and calcareous desert woodland at elevations of 1,275 to 1,825 meters. Flowering from August to September, this grass produces grayish spike-like inflorescences 3 to 6 centimeters long with delicate spikelets. Growing with stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall that have dense, short-hairy nodes, it develops soft, narrow leaves less than 2 millimeters wide that are slightly rolled. Its leaves are soft-hairy with ciliate sheaths and very short ligule hairs less than 1 millimeter long. Each spikelet features distinctive lemmas with 2 to 5 millimeter awns that extend beyond the surrounding structures.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, crevices, calcareous soils, desert woodland

Bloom period: Aug-Sep

Elevation: 1275-1825 m

Bioregions: e DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino

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