Sporobolus hookerianus

Alkali cord grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Alkali cord grass is a native perennial found in the northern Mojave Desert and eastern Sierra Nevada in alkaline lake shores, streambanks, meadows, and marshes at elevations of 1,000 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from June to August, this grass produces delicate, compact inflorescences 4 to 25 centimeters long with overlapping branches. Growing with slender stems 1.8 to 10 decimeters tall and a thin rhizomatous base, it forms dense clumps in wet, alkaline environments. Its leaf blades are 15 to 27 centimeters long, typically inrolled when fresh, with approximately five ridges per millimeter on the upper surface. The grass produces small spikelets 6 to 11 millimeters long, with ciliate glume and lemma keels featuring fine hairs near the tips.

Habitat: Alkaline lake shores, streambanks, meadows, marshes

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1000-2100 m

Bioregions: SNE, n DMoj

California counties: Inyo, Mono, San Diego, Siskiyou, Modoc

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