Sporobolus wrightii
Big sacaton, Big Sacaton
(c) Dominic Gentilcore, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Dominic Gentilcore · licence
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Native
Sporobolus wrightii (Big sacaton) is a native California grass in the Poaceae family, recognized by massive size (9-25 dm tall, very long wide leaves).
Big sacaton is a California native perennial found in southwestern and desert southern California regions in seasonally moist, alkaline areas at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from April to November, this grass produces green to purple spikelets 1.5 to 3 millimeters long in open, lanceolate terminal inflorescences. Growing with tufted, erect stems 90 to 250 centimeters tall, it forms dense clumps with shiny, straw-colored leaf bases. Its leaves are 20 to 70 centimeters long and 3 to 10 millimeters wide, with glabrous to short-hairy sheaths and a tiny ligule less than 0.5 millimeters long. The fruit is a small ellipsoid seed 1 to 1.4 millimeters long, red-brown and striate.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 8 sympatric species; key feature is massive size (9-25 dm tall, very long wide leaves)
Habitat and range
Habitat: Seasonally moist, alkaline areas
Elevation: < 1000 m
Outside California: Utah, Arizona to Oklahoma, Texas, northern and central Mexico
Bloom period
Sporobolus wrightii blooms Apr-Nov.
How to tell it apart
vs Typha: Typha (cattails) has thick, sausage-like brown flower spikes and wide strap-like leaves, not grass flowers.; vs Distichlis: Distichlis forms stiff colonies in salt marshes with distinctly two-ranked leaves, lacking ciliate sheaths.; vs Muhlenbergia: Sporobolus has fringed hairs on leaf sheath margins; Muhlenbergia sheaths are smooth.; vs Leymus: Leymus has spike-like inflorescences with spikelets in pairs, not the open panicles of Sporobolus.; vs Oloptum: Oloptum has prominent bent awns and plumose hairs; Sporobolus is awnless with ciliate sheaths.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sporobolus wrightii native to California?
Yes. Sporobolus wrightii is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Sporobolus wrightii bloom?
Sporobolus wrightii blooms Apr-Nov.
What plant family does Sporobolus wrightii belong to?
Sporobolus wrightii is in the Poaceae family, genus Sporobolus.
What habitat does Sporobolus wrightii grow in?
Sporobolus wrightii grows in Seasonally moist, alkaline areas.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
- Sporobolus airoides — Alkali sacaton
- Sporobolus alopecuroides — Foxtail prickle grass
- Sporobolus alterniflorus — Salt-water cord grass
- Sporobolus contractus — Spike dropseed
- Sporobolus creber — Slender rat's-tail grass
- Sporobolus cryptandrus — Sand dropseed
- Stenotaphrum secundatum — Saint augustine grass
- Stenotaphrum sp.
- Stipa arida — Mormon needle grass
- Stipa brachychaeta — Puna needle grass
Sources: Jepson eFlora · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.