Vascular Plants - Poaceae - Aira:
Log in
Aira praecox
Page Author: Don Knoke
yellow hair-grass, early silver-hair-grass 
Image © 2009, Wayne C. Weber
Blooms: April - September
Habit: herb
Duration: annual
Origin: Introduced
Distribution: Introduced from southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, south to California.
Habitat: Gravelly prairies, sea bluffs and dunes near the coast.
Species Description:

General: Delicate annuals, the culms 1 to several, 3-30 cm. tall, hollow, smooth or somewhat roughened.
Leaves: Sheaths open; ligules 1-3 mm. long, puberulent, the tip acute or blunt; blades scarcely 0.5 mm. broad.
Flowers: Inflorescence a congested panicle, 1-3 cm. long, the branches erect; spikelets 2-flowered; glumes 3-3.5 mm. long; lemmas about 3 mm. long, both awned, the awns 2-3 mm. long, attached below mid-length, twisted and bent.
Fruits: Utricle
Accepted Name:
Aira praecox L.
Synonyms:
Aspris praecox (L.) Nash

Treated in Flora of the PNW as:
Aira praecox
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria Specimens: View list of Aira praecox specimens in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WTU Herbarium Specimens: View list of Aira praecox specimens in the WTU Herbarium database.

Washington Flora Checklist: Aira praecox treatment.

E-Flora BC: Aira praecox atlas page.

CalPhotos: Aira praecox images.

USDA Plants Database: Aira praecox.
Additional photographs of Aira praecox:
(click on a thumbnail to view larger photo)

Wayne C. Weber, 2009
(password required)

Burke Museum


©2013 Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
All Rights Reserved. Box 353010, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA 98195-3010, Phone: 206-543-5590.
On the UW campus at 17th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street.
Washington Native Plant Society
WA Native Plant Society