Poa howellii

Howell's blue grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Howell's blue grass is a California native annual grass found in the California Floristic Province (excluding southern Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California) on rocky banks, shaded woodland slopes, and chaparral at elevations generally below 1,700 meters. Flowering from April to June, this grass produces delicate bluish-green flower clusters in loose, spreading panicles 20 to 25 centimeters long. Growing in dense tufts 30 to 80 centimeters tall with soft, flat leaf blades 1 to 6 millimeters wide, it forms compact clumps in disturbed and woodland habitats. Its leaf sheaths are partially open, with truncate to acute ligules 2.5 to 5 millimeters long, and each spikelet features lemmas with soft short hairs. The plant's tiny anthers and cobwebby flower bases add to its delicate woodland character.

Habitat: Rocky banks, shaded slopes of woodland, chaparral, disturbed places

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: generally < 1700 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc s SN, SnJV, SCo)

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