''Neostapfia'' is a genus of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

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 ...

es, in the subfamily

Chloridoideae Chloridoideae is one of the largest subfamilies of grasses, with roughly 150 genera and 1,600 species, mainly found in arid tropical or subtropical grasslands. Within the PACMAD clade, their sister group are the Danthonioideae. The subfamily inc ...

of the grass family,

Poaceae 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 ...

.USDA: ''Neostapfia colusana''
/ref> The only known species is ''Neostapfia colusana'', with the common name Colusa grass.

Distribution

''Neostapfia colusana'' is

to the Central Valley of

, in the northern section's

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

and in the southern section's

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

. The bunchgrass grows in

vernal pool Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...

s, which are seasonal shallow freshwater ponds. It is native to the Central Valley counties of Glenn, Colusa, Yolo, Solano, Stanislaus, and

Merced Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...

. This rare grass is a federally listed

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

in the United States.

Description

''Neostapfia colusana'' is a clumping

with distinctive cylindrical

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 ...

s covered in flat

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s. The inflorescences are said to resemble tiny ears of corn. They fruit in

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legume ...

covered in a gluey secretion, and when a plant is mature, each clump becomes brown and sticky with the exudate. The genus was named for botanist Otto Stapf.

Conservation

The plant is limited to

habitats, a type of ecosystem that is increasingly rare as Central Valley land is consumed by development and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, and damaged by flood-control regimens and other alterations of hydrology.California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile
/ref>

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Neostapfia colusana'' (Colusa grass, Colusagrass)Jepson eFlora (JM2): ''Neostapfia colusana''Grass Manual Profile: ''Neostapfia''The Nature Conservancy — ''Neostapfia colusana''UC Photos gallery — ''Neostapfia colusana''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2178044, from2=Q21649769 Chloridoideae Endemic flora of California Native grasses of California Bunchgrasses of North America Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Monotypic Poaceae genera