Written by Jeanette Wrysinski
Photography, design, and layout by David Rosen/Wildside Photography & Public Relations
Copyright © 2000, 2004 by Yolo County Resource Conservation District

INTRODUCTION

Why it was written:

Interest in native plants has increased dramatically in recent years.  Recognized as integral and critical ecosystem components, they contribute to structure, function, biodiversity, and habitat values. 

Natives are used in restoration and revegetation projects, integrated into farmland habitats, and used to out-compete undesirable plants in weed management projects.  Even landscaping projects around homes and businesses are incorporating natives.

In the midst of this increased interest and use, there are relatively few people who are able to accurately identify native plants, especially perennial grasses, or to distinguish them from non-native perennials or annuals, which are often weeds.

This publication, Know Your Natives, is intended to fill a need for quality, pictorial examples of the various growth stages of commonly planted and commonly seen native grasses.  Each grass presented here is used in the settings mentioned above and their seed is commercially available.  Each is also commonly found in wildlands in California, such as the Coastal or Sierra foothills.  There are innumerable other species that you might see, but those presented in this publication represent some of the most common types and will give the observer a growing sense of the characteristics to look for in trying to determine if a particular grass is a native perennial or not.  This publication is intended to provide increased understanding and ideas on their use, adding to the extent and quality of the native landscape.   

Who it is for:

This guide is especially written for the private landowner, farmers and ranchers in particular.  It also should be a valuable tool for owners of small parcels, those who wish to integrate native species into their home landscape, or those who want a better understanding of the plants they might see when on local outings or hikes.

How it is organized:

This introduction is followed by photos and specific information on each grass. Typically, the photos will include the seedling, mature plant, seed head, and mature, cleaned seed.  Some species may show more information than others, according to how well they are understood.  Showing cleaned, as opposed to freshly collected seed, indicates the focus on species with commercially available seed for planting.  The seeds pictured may or may not look like seed collected directly from the plant, depending on whether or not any flower parts have been removed in the cleaning process.  Studying the seed head photographs will help determine those similarities or differences.

Side-by-side comparisons of plant species can be of great value in learning relative differences in characteristics such as size, color, and growth habit.  To that end, fold-out comparative photo pages are included of seedlings, seed heads and seed.  One fold-out shows eleven key species planted side-by-side in a plug tray, providing the opportunity to compare these species’ growth and characteristics when planted on the same date and grown under the same conditions.

The backs of the fold-out comparison sheets will contain a glossary, plant part identification diagrams, seed mix and seeding rate sample calculations, sources for purchasing seed, information on the Yolo County Resource Conservation District, and references used in the writing of this guide.

Missing information:

If there are blank spots after headings for a species, such as “Former names” or “Spikelets,” this indicates that information on that aspect of the species may not be currently available.

Specific recommendations on seeding rates were intentionally left out.  A listing of specific pounds per acre seeding rates for each type could end up being inappropriate for a given site, depending on the species used, site conditions, soil type, rainfall, prior vegetation, or fertility.  Per-acre seeding rates for the species  in this publication can range from 5 to 10 lbs. if planted in a mix, and 10 to 30 lbs. if planted alone.  A more useful figure, which typically applies to cleaned seed, is the “number of live seeds per pound.”  Methods for calculating seeding rates using this figure are provided at the end of the manual.

Finally, it is the District’s intention, when future grant opportunities become available, that additional grasses, native forbs, and other native plants will be added to the manual.
 
Acknowledgements:

The following persons are gratefully acknowledged for their contributions to this publication, without whom completion would not have been possible:  Katy Pye, Executive Director Yolo County RCD; Paul Robins, Project Manager Yolo County RCD; John Anderson, Hedgerow Farms; Scott Stewart, ConservaSeed; and Chris Rose, Colusa County RCD.

Printing of this publication was funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grant fund.

All photography is by David Rosen/Wildside Photography & Public Relations, with the exception of Festuca rubra “Molate,”  mature plant and seed head, photos courtesy of Scott Stewart.

To purchase these materials, please request an order form from Sheila Pratt at the RCD at (530) 662-2037, ext. 117 or pratt(at)yolorcd(dot)org.