''Blepharidachne kingii'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

known by the common name King's eyelashgrass. It is native to the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

in the United States, where it grows in habitat such as pinyon-juniper woodland.''Blepharidachne kingii''.
The Jepson Manual. It is rare in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

''Blepharidachne kingii''.
NatureServe. 2012. and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

,''Blepharidachne kingii''.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game. but it is one of the most common grasses of the northeastern deserts of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Description

''Blepharidachne kingii'' is a perennial

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

growing in clumps or mats of stems 3 to 14 centimeters tall. The curved, twisted, stiff, hairlike leaf blades are up to 3 centimeters long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a purplish to straw-colored

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

of finely hairy spikelets.Valdés-Reyna, J
''Blepharidachne''.
Grass Manual. Flora of North America. Common associates in the flora of the plant's basin and desert habitat include

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

winterfat ''Krascheninnikovia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae known as winterfat, so-called because it is a nutritious livestock forage. They are known from Eurasia and western North America. Th ...

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...

ragweed Ragweeds are flowering plants in the genus ''Ambrosia'' in the aster family, Asteraceae. They are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, especially North America,greasewood Greasewood is a common name shared by several plants: * ''Adenostoma fasciculatum'' is a plant with white flowers that is native to Oregon, Nevada, California, and northern Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the ...

, hopsage, and

boxthorn ''Lycium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The genus has a disjunct distribution around the globe, with species occurring on most continents in temperate and subtropical regions. South America has the most spec ...

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Blepharidachne kingii'' (King's eyelash grass)USDA Plants Profile for ''Blepharidachne kingii'' (King's eyelashgrass) Jepson Manual eFlora treatment of ''Blepharidachne kingii''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Blepharidachne kingii'' images
Chloridoideae Bunchgrasses of North America Grasses of the United States Native grasses of California Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Endemic flora of the United States Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of Inyo County, California Least concern flora of the United States Taxa named by Sereno Watson Taxa named by Eduard Hackel {{Chloridoideae-stub