Trisetum cernuum

Nodding false oat, Nodding False Oat

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Nodding false oat is a native perennial found in northern California Coast and northern California Coast Ranges in moist, shaded redwood and conifer forests at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces delicate, nodding panicles with open, triangular-shaped flower clusters. Growing with slender stems 40 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms loose clumps with wiry, spreading branches. Its leaves have broad blades 6 to 12 millimeters wide with small ligules 1 to 3 millimeters long. The plant's distinctive lemmas bear bent awns 7 to 12 millimeters long, giving the spikelets an elegant, drooping appearance.

Habitat: Moist, shaded sites, redwood, conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO

California counties: Mendocino, Alameda, Butte, Del Norte, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Tuolumne, Sierra, Yuba, Humboldt, Trinity, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Madera, San Bernardino, Sacramento

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