Nineawn Pappusgrass
Enneapogon desvauxii

Family: Poaceae

Low tufted perennial reaching about one and a half feet tall. Bloom spikes begin to appear in summer through fall.

Distinguished by being a relatively small perennial with thin stems, knotty bases and a spike-like inflorescence of hairy spikelets, each with one plump, rounded seed surrounded by a lemma with nine feathery awns spreading off the top. The hairy spikelets can give a silvery appearance to the inflorescence. The non-native, invasive E. cenchroides is taller (1.5-3’ tall).

Full to part sun, best on irrigation.

Enneapogon is from the Greek ennea, nine and pogon, a beard, referring to the nine plumose awns on each lemma; desvauxii is named for Augustine Nicaise Desvaux (1784-1856) a French professor of botany. Enneapogon is a cosmopolitan genus with about 26 species.

Found on dry rocky slopes, mesas, rock outcrops and cliffs below 6,000 ft. in southeastern California, southern Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado south through western Texas; south through Mexico; also in South America and Southern Africa.

Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
Enneapogon desvauxii on iNaturalist