| Neostapfia | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Chloridoideae |
| Genus: | Neostapfia |
| Species: | N. colusana |
| Binomial name | |
| Neostapfia colusana Burtt Davy |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Stapfia colusana |
|
Neostapfia is a monotypic genus containing the single species of grass Neostapfia colusana, which is known by the common name Colusa grass.
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It is endemic to the Central Valley of California, where it grows in vernal pools. This rare grass is a federally listed threatened species in the United States.
Colusa grass is a clumping bunchgrass with distinctive cylindrical inflorescences covered in flat spikelets. The inflorescences are said to resemble tiny ears of corn. They fruit in grains covered in a gluey secretion, and when a plant is mature each clump becomes brown and sticky with the exudate. The genus was named for the botanist Otto Stapf.
The plant is limited to vernal pool habitat, a type of ecosystem which is increasingly rare as land is consumed by development and agriculture, and damaged by flood control regimes and other alteration in hydrology.[1]