Eriochloa acuminata var. acuminata

Southwestern cup grass, summer grass, Summer Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Southwestern cup grass is a California native perennial found in the Great Valley, southwestern California, and desert regions of southern California in seasonal stream habitats at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from August to September, this grass produces small spikelets with awnless upper glumes, typically 4 to 6 millimeters long. Growing with stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall featuring 2 to 5 distinct nodes, it spreads with characteristic grass-like growth. Its leaf blades are 5 to 12 centimeters long and 5 to 12 millimeters wide, with surfaces that are glabrous or lightly short-hairy. The plant's inflorescence has a main axis 7 to 16 centimeters long, with primary branches 1 to 5 centimeters in length and spikelets typically arranged two per node.

Habitat: Seasonal streams

Bloom period: Aug-Sep

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: GV, SW, DSon

California counties: Butte, San Bernardino, Riverside, Fresno, San Joaquin, Sutter, Imperial, Kern, Sacramento, Yolo

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