Muhlenbergia appressa

Appressed muhly

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Appressed muhly is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native annual grass found on San Clemente Island and in the Providence Mountains in open canyon bottoms and rocky slopes at elevations of 20 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from April to May, this delicate grass produces small, tightly clustered purple-tinged spikelets in narrow inflorescences 4 to 14 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall, it develops thin, flat or folded leaf blades 1 to 5 millimeters long. Its distinctive leaves have truncate to obtuse ligules 1.5 to 3 millimeters long, which are toothed and decurrent to the sheath. The plant's lemmas feature short-appressed hairs between veins, with slender awns 1 to 3 centimeters long.

Habitat: Open canyon bottoms, rocky slopes

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 20-1600 m

Bioregions: s ChI (San Clemente Island), DMtns (Providence Mtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside

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