Stipa hymenoides

Sand rice grass, Sand Rice Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sand rice grass is a native perennial found in the California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, southwestern California, Great Basin, and Desert regions in desert or sagebrush scrub, pinyon and juniper woodland, at elevations of 60 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from April to July, this grass produces pale, delicate flowers in open inflorescences 9 to 20 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems 25 to 70 centimeters tall, it has fine, narrow leaves typically less than one millimeter wide with margins rolled inward. Its leaves are characterized by glabrous to minutely scabrous sheaths, with blade lengths roughly equal to the plant's stems. The plant's distinctive lemma is dark brown to black, densely covered in long hairs, with a short, scabrous awn that easily detaches.

Habitat: Desert or sagebrush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland, in dry soil, generally sandy

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 60-3500 m

Bioregions: CaR, SN, SnJV, SW, GB, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, Ventura, Mono, Los Angeles, Inyo, San Diego, Tulare, Lassen, Fresno, Kings, Alpine, Modoc, El Dorado, Tuolumne, Imperial, Sierra, Plumas

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