Stipa miliacea var. miliacea

Smilo grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Smilo grass is a naturalized perennial grass found in coastal, valley, central western, and southern coastal California regions in salt marshes, dry washes, streambanks, chaparral, open woodland, and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,550 meters. Flowering from March to September, this grass produces pale green to light brown spikelets in open branching clusters 10 to 40 centimeters long. Growing with upright stems 40 to 150 centimeters tall, it has flat grass blades 5 to 30 centimeters long and 2 to 10 millimeters wide. Its leaf sheaths are smooth and glabrous, with narrow-ovate spikelets featuring short awns 3 to 4 millimeters long that are weakly bent. The grass has compressed florets with a blunt callus, adapting readily to various disturbed and open environments across California.

Habitat: Salt marshes, dry washes, streambanks, chaparral, open woodland, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Sep

Elevation: < 1550 m

Bioregions: NCo, GV, CW, SCo

California counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Butte, Humboldt, Tehama, Napa, Contra Costa, San Benito, Alameda, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Monterey

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