Parapholis incurva

Curved sicklegrass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Curved sicklegrass is a naturalized annual found in coastal regions including northern California Coast, eastern North Coast Ranges, western Sacramento Valley, northern San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, Southern Coast, and Channel Islands in disturbed, well-drained salt marsh soils at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this grass produces small, pale green to straw-colored spikelets in delicate, curved inflorescences. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 3 to 35 centimeters tall, it branches throughout or remains unbranched. Its narrow leaves are typically 1 to 10 centimeters long, barely 1 to 3 millimeters wide, and often tightly inrolled. The grass forms dense, low-growing clusters in maritime habitats, with spikelets arranged in slender, arching clusters 2 to 15 centimeters long.

Habitat: Disturbed, well drained soils of salt marshes, generally above highest tide level

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: NCo, e NCoRI, w ScV, n SnJV, CCo, SCo, ChI

California counties: San Diego, San Mateo, Ventura, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Orange, Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, Marin, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Solano, Sonoma, Mendocino, Monterey, San Francisco, Yolo, Kern, Colusa, San Bernardino, Merced, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Glenn, Napa, Stanislaus, Del Norte, Calaveras, Fresno, San Joaquin, Tuolumne

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