Puccinellia simplex

California alkaligrass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

California alkaligrass is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) native annual found in the San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, western Mojave Desert, and Tehachapi region in saline flats and mineral springs at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces delicate, pale green to white flowers in narrow, upright inflorescences 1 to 18 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems and fine, thread-like form, it develops thin stems with tightly inrolled leaves less than 2 millimeters wide when flat. Its leaves are narrow and delicate, typically rolled into thin, grass-like blades that adapt to harsh, saline environments. The plant's unique spikelets feature lemmas with soft, sparse hairs and tiny anthers less than half a millimeter long, reflecting its specialized adaptation to alkaline habitats.

Habitat: Saline flats, mineral springs

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: Teh, GV, SnFrB, w DMoj

California counties: Yolo, Lake, Kern, San Bernardino, Napa, Butte, Contra Costa, Merced, Glenn, Alameda, Colusa, Solano, Tulare, Madera, Stanislaus, Kings, Fresno, Lassen, Santa Cruz

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