Ptilagrostis kingii (Bol.) Barkworth

Oryzopsis kingii (Boland.) Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 229. 1896
Slipa Kingii Boland. Proc. CaUf. Acad. 4: 170. 1872.
Culms cespitose, with numerous innovations, slender, glabrous, 20-40 cm. tall; leaves mostly basal, the sheaths glabrous or scaberulous; ligule about 1 mm. long; blades involute, filiform, flexuous, scabrous, mostly 10-15 cm. long, the culm-blades about 2, somewhat shorter; panicles narrow, loose, mostly 5-7 cm. long, the slender branches appressed or ascending, fewflowered, 1-2 cm. long; lateral pedicels 2—3 mm. long, scabrous; glumes broad, papery, scarcely nerved, obtuse, purple at base, unequal, the first 3-4 mm. long, the second about 1 mm. longer; lemma elliptic, acutish, appressed-pubescent, 3-3.5 mm. long, the callus acutish, 0.5 mm. long; awn bent in a wide curve or indistinctly geniculate below the middle, not twisted, minutely pubescent, about 12 mm. long, not readily deciduous.
Type locality: Mount Dana, California {Bolander 6076 [error for 6097]). Distribution: Meadows at upper altitudes, central Sierra Nevada, California.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Gl umes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma awn twice geniculate, bent twice, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Ptilagrostis kingii is a species of grass known by the common names Sierra false needlegrass and King's ricegrass. It is endemic to the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada of California, where it grows in meadows and near streams in subalpine and alpine climates.