Trisetum canescens

Tall false oat, Tall False Oat

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tall false oat is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central western California, San Jacinto Mountains, and Modoc Plateau in open to shaded sites including meadows, chaparral, and conifer forest at elevations below 2,830 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces pale green to tan flowers in narrow, compact to open panicles 6 to 20 centimeters long. Growing in dense clumps with stems 50 to 80 centimeters tall, it develops erect to ascending stems that are glabrous or slightly scabrous. Its leaves are narrow, 2 to 5 millimeters wide, with ligules 1 to 4 millimeters long, and range from glabrous to sparsely hairy. The spikelets feature delicate lance-shaped glumes with awns 6 to 11 millimeters long, giving the plant a distinctive feathery appearance.

Habitat: Open to shaded sites, meadows, chaparral, conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2830 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, SNH, CW, SnJt, MP

California counties: Sonoma, Del Norte, Contra Costa, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo, Napa, Marin, Madera, Mono, Riverside, Plumas, Siskiyou, Fresno, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Tehama, Nevada, San Francisco, San Bernardino, Alameda, Butte, Inyo, Lassen, Mariposa, Tulare, Santa Clara, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Modoc, Glenn, Sierra, Yuba, Kern, Monterey, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Trinity, Colusa, Santa Barbara, San Benito, Lake, Alpine

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