Muhlenbergia microsperma

Littleseed muhly, Littleseed Muhly

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Littleseed muhly is a California native perennial grass found in coastal, southern coastal ranges, southwestern California, and desert regions in open, disturbed sites at elevations below 1,650 meters. Flowering from March to May, this grass produces small, delicate purple-tinged anthers within its compact inflorescences. Growing with slender stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms loosely clustered and spreading branches. Its thin leaf blades are 2 to 6 centimeters long, typically 1 to 2.5 millimeters wide, and can be flat or slightly rolled. The grass has distinctive cleistogamous spikelets enclosed by tightly rolled sheaths, with soft-hairy lemmas bearing slender awns 1 to 3 centimeters long.

Habitat: Open, +- disturbed sites

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1650 m

Bioregions: CCo, SCoRO, SW, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Ventura, Riverside, San Diego, Inyo, Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Kern, 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.