Muhlenbergia andina

Foxtail muhly

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Foxtail muhly is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, San Bernardino Mountains, northeastern Sierra Nevada, and desert mountains in canyons, streambanks, and wet meadows at elevations up to 3,100 meters. Flowering from July to September, this grass produces delicate yellow-tipped anthers in narrow, appressed inflorescences 2 to 15 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 25 to 85 centimeters tall, it spreads through creeping, scaly rhizomes that form dense clusters. Its leaves are flat and narrow, 4 to 16 centimeters long and 2 to 4 millimeters wide, with truncate, ciliate ligules less than 1.5 millimeters long. The plant's distinctive spikelets feature short awns 1 to 7 millimeters long, creating a soft, feathery appearance characteristic of its "foxtail" common name.

Habitat: Canyons, streambanks, wet meadows

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: < 3100 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, SN, SCoRI, SnBr, SNE, DMtns

California counties: Butte, Mono, Fresno, San Bernardino, San Benito, Siskiyou, Inyo, El Dorado, Trinity, Del Norte, Tuolumne, Plumas, Alpine, Humboldt, Napa, Mendocino, Nevada, Shasta, Sierra, Mariposa, Tulare, Sonoma, Madera, Lassen, Riverside, Colusa, Tehama

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