''Eriocoma occidentalis'' 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 a ...
known by the common name western needlegrass. It is native to western North America from
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
to
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, where it grows in many types of habitat. This is a tufting 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 perenni ...
forming tight clumps of erect stems up to about in maximum height, but sometimes much shorter. The hairlike leaves are less than a millimeter wide and may have rolled edges. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
is up to long, with each hairy spikelet bearing an
awn up to 4 or 5 centimeters long. The awn is kinked twice.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
Bunchgrasses of North America
Native grasses of California
Grasses of the United States
Grasses of Canada
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
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