Ventenata dubia

North africa grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

North africa grass is a naturalized annual grass found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in dry, open disturbed sites at elevations of 500 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from June to September, this grass produces delicate, pale spikelets with spreading to drooping branches 15 to 20 centimeters long. Growing with slender stems featuring distinctive purple-black nodes, it spreads in open habitats with thin, rolled leaves 2 to 7 centimeters long. Its leaves have narrow blades approximately 1 to 3 millimeters wide that gradually curl under with age, creating a distinctive fine-textured appearance. The spikelets are 10 to 15 millimeters long, with lanceolate glumes and florets bearing straight awns up to 1.5 centimeters long.

Habitat: Dry, open disturbed sites

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 500-1500 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH (Lake Co.), CaRH, n SNH (Nevada Co.), MP

California counties: Shasta, Modoc, Lassen, Siskiyou, Lake, Trinity, Humboldt, Mariposa, Placer

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