Stipa brachychaeta

Puna needle grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Puna needle grass is a naturalized perennial found in the central Coast, southern Coast, and southern California Coast Ranges in grasslands, riparian woodlands, open conifer woodlands, and disturbed areas at elevations of 60 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to October, this grass produces delicate pale green to tan spikelets with slender, bent awns 10 to 18 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 40 to 90 centimeters tall, it forms dense clumps with narrow, stiff leaf blades 8 to 35 centimeters long and 2 to 3 millimeters wide. Its leaves have inrolled margins with sharp, stiff tips, creating a distinctive narrow and pointed appearance. The grass produces cylindric spikelets with lance-linear glumes and a hairy lemma that becomes glabrous towards the tip.

Habitat: Grassland, riparian woodland, open conifer woodland, disturbed areas, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: 60-1300 m

Bioregions: SnJV, CCo, SCoR, SCo

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