Sporobolus vaginiflorus

Poverty dropseed

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Poverty dropseed is a naturalized annual grass found in eastern Klamath Ranges of northwestern Shasta County and northern Sierra Nevada near Grass Valley and Truckee Canyon in open, sandy disturbed areas at elevations below 600 meters. Flowering from April to November, this grass produces green to lead-colored spikelets 3 to 6 millimeters long in dense, contracted inflorescences. Growing in tufted clusters with erect or decumbent stems 20 to 80 centimeters tall, it has stems with dull purple to straw-colored bases. Its narrow leaves are 2 to 15 centimeters long and 0.5 to 2 millimeters wide, with glabrous or slightly ciliate margins. The light-brown fruit is obovoid and 1.8 to 2.7 millimeters long, with fine striations.

Habitat: Open, generally sandy, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: < 600 m

Bioregions: e KR (nw Shasta Co.), n SNH (Grass Valley, Truckee Canyon)

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