Neostapfia colusana

Colusa grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Threatened

Colusa grass is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in the Great Valley bioregion in Colusa, Merced, Solano, and Stanislaus counties, inhabiting vernal pools at elevations below 125 meters. Flowering from May to August, this delicate grass produces pale translucent flowers in dense, cylindric spike-like inflorescences 2 to 8 centimeters long. Growing with ascending stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, the plant becomes brown and sticky-glandular with age. Its leaves are 5 to 12 millimeters wide, with a continuous sheath loosely enclosing the stem base. The fruit is approximately 2.5 millimeters long, with each spikelet typically containing five florets arranged along a breaking axis.

Habitat: Vernal pools

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 125 m

Bioregions: GV (Colusa, Merced, Solano, Stanislaus cos.).

California counties: Stanislaus, Merced, Solano, Colusa, Yolo

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