Festuca myuros

Rattail sixweeks grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Rattail sixweeks grass is a naturalized annual grass found in California's Central Valley and desert regions in open places and sandy soils at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces pale green to straw-colored flowers in slender, dense inflorescences 4 to 25 centimeters long. Growing with stems up to 75 centimeters tall that are smooth or slightly rough near the flower clusters, it has a delicate, upright form. Its narrow leaves are linear and fine, typical of grasses, with a sparse, wispy appearance. The seed heads develop long, hair-like awns 5 to 15 millimeters in length, giving the plant its distinctive "rattail" characteristic.

Habitat: Common. Generally open places, sandy soils

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, D

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, Kern, Ventura, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Riverside, San Diego, Fresno, Orange, San Luis Obispo, El Dorado, Calaveras, Inyo, Amador, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Sutter, Butte, Yuba, Shasta, Lassen, Plumas, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Madera, Monterey, Yolo, Mariposa, San Benito, Stanislaus, 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.