reedgrasses

genus Calamagrostis

Member of grasses (family Poaceae)
grasses, sedges, cattails, and allies (order Poales)
monocots (class Liliopsida)
flowering plants (subphylum Angiospermae)

Except for extremely rare examples that I don't expect to encounter, there are no other wild species of this genus in the bay area.

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european marram grass
Calamagrostis arenaria

• up to 1.2 meters high, with leaves up to 1 m long
• inflorescence up to 30 cm long
• leaf is curled into almost a circle along its length in dry conditions
• grows on coastal sand dunes
• highly invasive

pacific small-reedgrass
Calamagrostis nutkaensis

• panicle ± open below, lower branches spreading to ascending, narrow above

serpentine reedgrass
Calamagrostis ophitidis

• panicle ± dense, narrow, branches generally appressed
• leaf blade with small white-opaque hooks/glands between the veins (visible at about 10x magnification)
• generally on serpentine soils

fire reedgrass
Calamagrostis koelerioides

• panicle generally dense, narrow, branches appressed
• leaf blade without small white-opaque hooks/glands between the veins
• awn 4–5.5 mm
• leaf collar scabrous or smooth
• rhizomes 2–6 cm long, 2–4 mm thick, stout
• early colonizer of burned areas
• very rare

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1 observed taxon / 4 unobserved taxons / 1 key

Chris’s observations: none

Taxon info: iNaturalist – Calflora – Jepson eFlora – FNA

Bay Area species: iNaturalist – Calflora