Puccinellia nutkaensis

Alaska alkali grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alaska alkali grass is a native perennial found in northern coastal California in marshes and wet sites at elevations below 10 meters. Flowering in June, this grass produces small flowers in delicate branching inflorescences 5 to 30 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems that feature narrow leaves 1.5 to 6 millimeters wide, it forms dense tufted clusters in wetland environments. Its leaves are primarily cauline, with blades that can be flat or slightly rolled, adapting to its moist habitat conditions. The plant's delicate spikelets have lemmas with acute to obtuse tips that are subtly serrated near the edges.

Habitat: Marshes, wet sites

Bloom period: Jun

Elevation: < 10 m

Bioregions: NCo

California counties: Humboldt, Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara, Yolo, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma, Inyo, San Francisco, San Bernardino

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