Setaria verticillata

Hooked bristle grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hooked bristle grass is a naturalized annual grass found in southern California coastal areas, western Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and the Sonoran Desert's Coachella Valley in disturbed places, fields, and roadsides at elevations below 550 meters. Flowering from May to November, this plant produces green-tinged pale spikelets with distinctive hooked bristles that easily attach to clothing and animal fur. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 15 to 100 centimeters tall, it has a sprawling or upright habit in open areas. Its leaves are long and narrow, measuring 5 to 25 centimeters in length and 3 to 12 millimeters wide, with surfaces ranging from smooth to slightly hairy. The plant's characteristic hooked bristles make it particularly adept at seed dispersal through passive attachment to passing animals or humans.

Habitat: Disturbed places, fields, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Nov

Elevation: < 550 m

Bioregions: SCo, WTR, PR, DSon (Coachella Valley)

California counties: San Joaquin, San Francisco, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Fresno, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Yolo, Monterey, Napa, San Diego, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Lassen, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Solano, Kings, Imperial

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