Sclerochloa dura

Hardgrass, fairground grass, Fairground Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hardgrass is a naturalized annual grass found in western California Ranges and Cascades, specifically in the Shasta Valley, on disturbed sites at elevations of 700 to 800 meters. Flowering in May, this plant produces small, dense clusters of spikelets with overlapping florets. Growing with compact stems 2 to 15 centimeters tall, it forms low, tight clumps in open ground. Its leaf blades are narrow, reaching 1 to 4 millimeters wide with distinctive prow-shaped tips, extending 0.5 to 5 centimeters in length. The spikelets are tightly packed, measuring 5 to 15 millimeters long with 3 to 4 florets per spikelet.

Habitat: Disturbed sites

Bloom period: May

Elevation: 700-800 m

Bioregions: w CaRH (Shasta Valley)

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