Stipa parishii var. parishii
Parish's needlegrass
Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Parish's needlegrass is a California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, White and Inyo Mountains, and Desert Mountains on dry rocky slopes, scrub, and pinyon-juniper woodland at elevations of 700 to 3,050 meters. Flowering from April to August, this grass produces delicate pale green to silvery spikelets with slender, persistent awns that curve elegantly in a single bend. Growing with slender stems 20 to 80 centimeters tall and 0.8 to 2 millimeters in diameter, it forms dense clumps in arid landscapes. Its leaves have proximal sheaths mostly glabrous, with narrow blades 11 to 30 centimeters long and 2.5 to 4.2 millimeters wide. The distinctive lemma is densely hairy throughout, with an awn 15 to 35 millimeters long that adds a distinctive feathery texture to the plant.
Habitat: dry rocky slopes, scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland
Bloom period: Apr-Aug
Elevation: 700-3050 m
Bioregions: s SN, TR, PR, W&I, DMtns
California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Inyo, Riverside, San Diego
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.