Stipa capensis

Cape rice grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Cape rice grass is a naturalized annual grass found in the southern desert regions of California in desert scrub, roadsides, and disturbed areas at elevations of 80 to 400 meters. Flowering from March to April, this grass produces pale yellow to green-tinged spikelets with distinctive long awns. Growing with slender stems 10 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms dense, upright clumps in open landscapes. Its narrow leaves are less than 3 millimeters wide, with sheaths ranging from glabrous to densely hairy. The plant's most distinctive feature is its long, bent awn measuring 50 to 100 millimeters, which is dense-hairy near the base and becomes scabrous toward the tip.

Habitat: Desert scrub, roadsides, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: 80-400 m

Bioregions: DSon

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