Crypsis vaginiflora
Crypsis alopecuroides
African prickle grass, modest prickle grass
foxtail prickle grass, foxtail timothy
1-30 cm, often profusely branching above the base, with 10-25 panicles per culm.
(3)5-75 cm rarely branched above the base.
pilose on the margins;
collars pilose;
blades 1-5 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, soon disarticulating, thus many leaves on mature plants are bladeless.
glabrous;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.2-1 mm;
blades 5-12 cm long, 1.2-2.5 mm wide, not disarticulating.
0.3-1.5(3.5) cm long, 3-6(10) mm wide, 1-5 times longer than wide, sessile or almost so, mostly included in the sheaths of the upper 2 leaves.
1.5-6.5 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, 7-8 times longer than wide, often purplish, completed exserted from the uppermost sheath at maturity on peduncles at least 1 cm long.
2.5-3.2 mm, readily disarticulating when disturbed, otherwise retained within the upper sheaths.
1.8-2.8 mm, remaining lightly attached until late in the season.
about 3 mm, subequal;
lower glumes pilose on the margins;
lemmas subequal to the glumes;
paleas minutely 2-veined;
anthers 3, 0.5-0.9 mm.
1.2-2 mm;
upper glumes 1.4-2.4 mm;
lemmas 1.7-2.8 mm;
paleas faintly 2-veined;
anthers 3, 0.5-0.6 mm.
1.3-1.7 mm.
0.9-1.1 mm.
= 48.
= 16.
Crypsis vaginiflora
Crypsis alopecuroides
Crypsis vaginiflora is common to abundant in clay or sandy clay soil in California, where it was first introduced in the late 1800s. It has since been found at a few locations in Washington, Idaho, and Nevada, and will probably spread to additional sites with suitable habitat in the future. It is native to Egypt and southwestern Asia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Crypsis alopecuroides is common to abundant in sandy soils around drying lake margins in Oregon and southern Washington, and within the last forty years has become widespread in northern California; it is also known from several other western states. It was first collected in the Western Hemisphere in the late 1800s from shipyard areas in and around Philadelphia, but has not been collected in the eastern United States since. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it extends from France and northern Africa to the Urals and Iraq.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
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OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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