Xerophyllum tenax

Common beargrass

Family: Melanthiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Common beargrass is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern high Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area in dry open slopes, ridges, and montane conifer forest at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers in dense clusters with perianth parts approximately oblong and style less than 1 millimeter long. Growing with tall stems 15 to 150 centimeters in height, it forms a distinctive dense basal clump of long, narrow leaves. Its basal leaves are 30 to 100 centimeters long and only 2 to 6 millimeters wide, with numerous reduced cauline leaves extending upward along the stem. The fruit is 5 to 7 millimeters long, completing the plant's distinctive alpine and montane habitat profile.

Habitat: dry open slopes, ridges, montane conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, CaRH, n SNH, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Siskiyou, Napa, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Del Norte, Nevada, Marin, Trinity, El Dorado, Placer, Sonoma, Butte, Lassen, Mono

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