A dense to sparse cover of annual grasses with flowering culms 0.2-0.5 (1.0)m high. Often associated with numerous species of showy-flowered, native annual forbs ("wildflowers"), especially in years of favorable rainfall. Germination occurs with the onset of the late fall rains; growth, flowering, and seed-set occur from winter through spring. With a few exceptions, the plants are dead through the summer-fall dry season, persisting as seeds.
SITE FACTORS:
On fine-textured, usually clay soils, moist or even waterlogged during the winter rainy season and very dry during the summer and fall. Oak Woodland (71100) is often adjacent on moister, better drained soils.
DISTRIBUTION:
Valleys and foothills of most of California, except for the north coastal and desert regions. Usually below 3,000 feet, but reaching 4,000 feet in the Tehachapi Mtns. and interior San Diego County. Intergrades with Coastal Prairie (41000) along the central coast. Formerly occupied large portions of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Salinas Valleys as well as the Los Angeles Basin, areas that are now agricultural or urban.
UPDATE: 10/86
Source: Holland, 1986
Digital Text: NatureBase