Festuca viridula

Mountain bunch grass, green fescue, Green Fescue

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mountain bunch grass is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges and northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in subalpine meadows, open forests, and rocky slopes at elevations generally above 2,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this grass produces small greenish spikelets 9 to 12 millimeters long with delicate branches arranged in open clusters. Growing in dense clumps with stems 50 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms robust bunches with visible nodes and strongly veined leaf sheaths. Its narrow leaves are 10 to 30 centimeters long, approximately 1 to 2.5 millimeters wide, and slightly rolled, creating a compact and structured appearance. The grass's leaf sheaths gradually shred with age, revealing its distinctive clumped growth pattern and adaptability to high-elevation alpine environments.

Habitat: Subalpine meadows, open forest, rocky slopes

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: generally > 2000 m

Bioregions: KR, n SNH

California counties: Nevada, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Alpine, Placer, Sierra, Lassen, San Benito, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Plumas, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Amador

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