Festuca brachyphylla subsp. breviculmis

Alpine fescue, Alpine Fescue

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alpine fescue is a California native perennial found in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, northern Sierra Nevada Eastern slopes, and White and Inyo Mountains in rocky subalpine and alpine habitats at elevations of 2,800 to 4,300 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces pale green to whitish flowers in small, narrow clusters about 1 to 2.5 centimeters long. Growing in dense clumps with stems 4 to 20 centimeters tall, it forms compact tufted clusters close to the ground. Its narrow leaves are tightly folded, measuring 1 to 6 centimeters long and less than half a millimeter wide, characteristic of high-altitude grass species. The plant produces delicate spikelets 3.5 to 5.5 millimeters long with 2 to 4 small florets, each with a minute awn about 1 to 1.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Rocky places, subalpine or alpine

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 2800-4300 m

Bioregions: c&amps SNH, n SNE, W&ampI.

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