Burke: Danthonia californica vs. Danthonia spicata

	Danthonia californica	Danthonia spicata
	California oatgrass	poverty oatgrass
Habit	Tufted perennial, the culms hollow, 3-8 dm. tall.	Strongly tufted perennial, the culms hollow, glabrous or puberulent, 2-7 dm. tall.
Leaves	Sheaths open, glabrous to hairy, usually with long hairs at the throat; ligules a fringe of hairs 1-2 mm. long; blades flat or slightly involute, glabrous or with soft hairs.	Sheaths open, glabrous to pubescent, with hairs on the collar 1.5-3.5 mm. long; ligule only 0.5 mm. long; blades usually involute, 0.5-2 mm. broad, short and erect to elongate and curled.
Flowers	Inflorescence a small, open panicle; spikelets 2-5, several-flowered, at least 1 cm. long; glumes 14-18 mm. long, the first 3-nerved, the second 5-nerved; lemmas up to 14 mm. long, strongly bifid, the teeth awn-like, up to 4 mm. long, glabrous on the back, with marginal hairs, the callus short-bearded; awn attached just below the lobes of the lemma, flattened and twisted; paleas broad, shorter than the lemmas.	Inflorescence a raceme-like panicle 2-5 cm. long, often one-sided, the branches very short and usually with only one spikelet; glumes slender, subequal, 9-12 mm. long; lemmas 4-5 mm. long, sparsely hairy on the back, bifid, the teeth from acute and 0.5 mm. long to acuminate and 2 mm. long; awn attached just below the lobes of the lemma, 8-9 mm. long; callus lightly bearded; paleas broad, shorter than the lemmas.

	Danthonia californica	Danthonia spicata
Flowering time	June-July	June-July
Habitat	Open, grassy meadows to rocky ridges, from coastal prairies to mid-elevations in the mountains, often with ponderosa pine.	Sandy to rocky soil in dry woods and fairly dry meadows.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, east to Newfoundland and eastern United States. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	D. decumbens, D. intermedia, D. spicata, D. unispicata	D. californica, D. decumbens, D. intermedia, D. unispicata
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Danthonia spicata

California oatgrass

poverty oatgrass

Habit

Tufted perennial, the culms hollow, 3-8 dm. tall.

Strongly tufted perennial, the culms hollow, glabrous or puberulent, 2-7 dm. tall.

Leaves

Sheaths open, glabrous to hairy, usually with long hairs at the throat;

ligules a fringe of hairs 1-2 mm. long;

blades flat or slightly involute, glabrous or with soft hairs.

Sheaths open, glabrous to pubescent, with hairs on the collar 1.5-3.5 mm. long;

ligule only 0.5 mm. long;

blades usually involute, 0.5-2 mm. broad, short and erect to elongate and curled.

Flowers

Inflorescence a small, open panicle;

spikelets 2-5, several-flowered, at least 1 cm. long;

glumes 14-18 mm. long, the first 3-nerved, the second 5-nerved;

lemmas up to 14 mm. long, strongly bifid, the teeth awn-like, up to 4 mm. long, glabrous on the back, with marginal hairs, the callus short-bearded; awn attached just below the lobes of the lemma, flattened and twisted;

paleas broad, shorter than the lemmas.

Inflorescence a raceme-like panicle 2-5 cm. long, often one-sided, the branches very short and usually with only one spikelet;

glumes slender, subequal, 9-12 mm. long;

lemmas 4-5 mm. long, sparsely hairy on the back, bifid, the teeth from acute and 0.5 mm. long to acuminate and 2 mm. long; awn attached just below the lobes of the lemma, 8-9 mm. long;

callus lightly bearded;

paleas broad, shorter than the lemmas.