Poa secunda subsp. juncifolia

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Junciform blue grass is a native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Great Basin in sagebrush scrub to lower montane forest habitats at elevations of 900 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces small bluish-green to green flowers in dense, compact clusters. Growing with slender stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall, it forms tightly clustered bunches with firm, narrow leaves that are often glaucous and tightly folded. Its leaves are extremely narrow, less than 1.5 millimeters wide, with short ligules that are generally truncate to acuminate and slightly rough in texture. When flowering, the plant develops delicate inflorescences 6 to 25 centimeters long that remain tightly contracted and appressed.

Habitat: Sagebrush scrub to lower montane forest, often in alkaline depressions

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 900-3000 m.

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNH (esp e slope), GB

California counties: San Bernardino, Tulare, Los Angeles, Riverside, Inyo, Mono, El Dorado, Amador, Sierra, Lassen, Siskiyou, Glenn, Placer, San Benito, San Diego, San Mateo, Ventura, Tehama, Fresno, Kern, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Alpine, Trinity, Tuolumne, Modoc, Mendocino, Del Norte, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Madera, Butte, Lake, Solano, Napa, Monterey

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