Sporobolus airoides

Alkali sacaton

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alkali sacaton is a California native perennial grass found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, southern San Joaquin Valley, southwestern California, Great Basin, and desert regions in seasonally moist, alkaline areas at elevations below 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to October, this grass produces green to purple spikelets in a widely spreading, pyramid-shaped inflorescence. Growing in dense tufts with erect stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall, it features shiny, straw-colored leaf bases and narrow blades 10 to 40 centimeters long. Its leaves have a distinctive glabrous or sparsely hairy collar with tiny fringe hairs up to 2 millimeters long. The fruit is a small ellipsoid seed 1 to 1.4 millimeters long, reddish-brown with fine striations.

Habitat: Seasonally moist, alkaline areas

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: < 2100 m

Bioregions: SNF, Teh, s ScV, SnJV, s SCoRO, SW, GB, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Orange, Mono, Kern, Riverside, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tulare, Imperial, Ventura, Alameda, Santa Barbara, Merced, San Luis Obispo, Amador, Fresno, Stanislaus, Marin, Lassen, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Solano, Madera, Yolo, Kings

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