Stipa chaetophora

Stipoid rice grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Stipoid rice grass is a naturalized perennial found in the central California coast near Marin County in meadows, open woodland, and disturbed areas at elevations of 100 to 120 meters. Flowering from May to June, this grass produces narrow, fine inflorescences with delicate spikelets 4 to 8 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 20 to 60 centimeters tall, it has fine, thread-like leaf blades less than half a millimeter wide and extending 14 to 30 centimeters in length. Its leaf sheaths are glabrous distally with minute bristly textures, while the lemmas are dark brown to black with a shiny surface and a distinctive bent awn 15 to 25 millimeters long. The palea is uniquely grooved lengthwise and late-deciduous, contributing to the grass's delicate appearance.

Habitat: Meadows, open woodland, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 100-120 m

Bioregions: CCo (Marin Co.)

California counties: Marin

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