Hilaria jamesii

Galleta

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Galleta is a California native perennial found in the eastern Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert Mountains on dry, sandy to rocky slopes, scrub, and woodland at elevations of 1,000 to 2,700 meters. Flowering from April to November, this plant produces pale greenish-yellow grass-like flowers in compact clusters 6 to 9 millimeters long. Growing with unbranched stems 15 to 40 centimeters tall, it forms dense clumps with stems approximately 1 millimeter in diameter. Its leaves are primarily basal, glabrous or slightly rough, with narrow blades 2 to 3 millimeters wide and up to 13 centimeters long, featuring long cilia near the ligule. The plant's distinctive growth form includes straight node hairs and a compact, tufted appearance characteristic of desert and mountain grassland environments.

Habitat: Dry, sandy to rocky slopes, flats, scrub, woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: 1000-2700 m

Bioregions: SNE, DMoj (mostly DMtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono

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