Munroa squarrosa

False buffalograss

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

False buffalograss is a native annual grass found in the Clark Mountain Range in open, sandy, gravelly or rocky places at elevations of 1,500 to 1,800 meters. Flowering from August to October, this plant produces small grass flowers in delicate, slender spikelets. Growing as a compact mat-like plant less than 20 centimeters wide, it forms thin, branching stems 3 to 15 centimeters tall with a scabrous and often minutely puberulent texture. Its narrow leaves are typically 1 to 5 centimeters long and 1 to 2.5 millimeters wide, with distinctive lemmas featuring lateral veins that have hairy tufts near the middle. The plant's terminal spikelets have delicate awns 0.5 to 2 millimeters long, adding a subtle texture to its overall appearance.

Habitat: Open, sandy, gravelly or rocky places

Bloom period: Aug-Oct

Elevation: 1500-1800 m

Bioregions: DMtns (Clark Mtn Range)

California counties: San Bernardino, Modoc, Imperial

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