Stipa lepida

Foothill needle grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Foothill needle grass is a California native perennial found in northwestern, central western, and southwestern California in dry slopes, chaparral, grassland, savanna, and coastal scrub at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to June, this grass produces delicate pale tan to straw-colored flowers in open, airy inflorescences with distinctive needle-like awns. Growing with slender stems 35 to 100 centimeters tall and less than 1.2 millimeters in diameter, it forms graceful clumps with slightly hairy internodes. Its leaves are narrow, 12 to 23 centimeters long and 1 to 3.5 millimeters wide, ranging from flat to slightly rolled at the margins. The plant's most distinctive feature is its long, persistent awn measuring 12 to 55 millimeters, which twists and bends, creating a characteristic delicate appearance in grassland landscapes.

Habitat: dry slopes, chaparral, grassland, savanna, coastal scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: NW, CW, SW

California counties: Orange, Ventura, Merced, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Napa, Sacramento, El Dorado, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, Shasta, Trinity, Humboldt, Tehama, San Mateo, Mariposa, Kern, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Solano, Yolo, Placer

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