Erioneuron pilosum

Hairy erioneuron

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Hairy erioneuron is a California native perennial found in the eastern Mojave Desert Mountains in rocky pinyon and juniper woodland at elevations of 1,280 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to June, this grass produces tan to purple-tinged spikelets in compact raceme-like clusters 1.5 to 4 centimeters long. Growing in dense clumps with erect stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms tufted bunches with distinctive characteristics. Its leaves are narrow, 3 to 6 centimeters long and only 1 to 1.5 millimeters wide, with white margins and soft hairy sheaths at the collar. The plant's delicate spikelets feature lemmas with tiny 2-toothed tips and short awns measuring 0.5 to 2.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, ridges, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 1280-2000 m

Bioregions: SNE, e DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, San Diego

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