Tridens muticus var. muticus

Slim tridens

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Slim tridens is a California native perennial found in northeastern Peninsular Ranges and desert regions in dry, rocky limestone soils of creosote-bush scrub and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to May and October to November, this grass produces pale to light purple flowers in narrow, compact inflorescences 4 to 20 centimeters long. Growing with tufted stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms short rhizomes and develops dense, fine-textured clumps. Its narrow leaves are 3 to 25 centimeters long, typically 1 to 4 millimeters wide, and inrolled with slightly scabrous surfaces. The plant's spikelets are 8 to 13 millimeters long, with densely hairy callus and lemmas that are often purple-tinged.

Habitat: Dry, rocky, generally limestone soils, creosote-bush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May, Oct--Nov

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: ne PR, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Riverside

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