Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office
Species Account
SOLANO GRASS
(Tuctoria mucronata)
CLASSIFICATION: Federal Endangered Species (Federal Register 43:44812 (PDF); September 28, 1978)
This species was listed as endangered by the California Department of Fish and Game in July 1979, as Crampton's tuctoria. The California Native Plant Society has placed it onList 1B (rare or endangered throughout its range), also under the alternate name.
CRITICAL HABITAT: Originally designated in Federal Register 68:46683 pdf; August 6, 2003.
The designation was revised in 70:46923 pdf; August 11, 2005.
Species by unit designations were published in 71:7117 | PDF February 10, 2006.
RECOVERY PLAN: Recovery Plan for Vernal Pool Ecosystems of California and Southern Oregon
DESCRIPTION:
Solano grass (Tuctoria mucronata), also known as Crampton's tuctoria, is a small (1 to 8-inch) annual in the grass family (Poaceae). It produces stems and leaves covered with small droplets of the sticky, acrid secretion. This is characteristic of the genus Tuctoria, which includes the endangered Greene's tuctoria (Tuctoria greenei) and the genus Neostapfia, which contains only the threatened Colusa grass (Neostapfia colusana). The several solid stems grow somewhat decumbently (lying on the ground), turning up only at the tips. The leaves lack ligules, the small, scalelike leaf outgrowths found on some grasses.
This species blooms from April to July. Seven to 19 spikelets overlap one another the full length of the spike-like inflorescence. Unlike other closely related species, the inflorescence of Solano grass remains partially enclosed by the upper leaf sheath and is never fully exerted from the uppermost leaf. The lemma (bract) ends in a single tooth with a short, narrow point. See Hickman (1993) in General Information about California Plants, below,for a detailed description of the species (as Crampton's tuctoria.)
DISTRIBUTION:
Solano grass was last seen in 1993 at its original location, Olcott Lake within the Solano Land Trust's Jepson Prairie Preserve, when four individual plants were present.
A second population was discovered on private lands in 1985, and another was discovered in 1993 on a former U.S. Air Force Base communication facility that is being transferred to the Yolo County Parks Department. Several thousandindividual plants were seen at this site in 2000.
THREATS:
Threats to Solano grass include alteration of hydrology, excessive livestock grazing, recreational uses, and competition from non-native plants.
REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (See our Disclaimer)
Crampton, B. 1959. The grass genera Orcuttia and Neostapfia: a study in habitat and morphological specialization. Madroño 15:97-110.
Griggs, F.T. 1976. Life history strategies of the genus Orcuttia (Gramineae). S.K. Jain (ed.) In: Vernal pools, their ecology and conservation. University of California Institute of Ecology, Davis. Publications. 9:57-63.
Griggs, F.T. 1980. Population studies in the genus Orcuttia (Poaceae). Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Davis.
Griggs, F.T. 1984. A strategy for the conservation of the genus Orcuttia. S.K. Jain and P. Moyle (eds.). In: Vernal pools and intermittent streams. University of California Institute of Ecology, Davis. Publications. 28:255-262.
Griggs, F.T. and S.K. Jain. 1983. Conservation of vernal pools in California, II. Population biology of a rare and unique grass genus Orcuttia. Biol. Cons. 27:171-193.
Holland, R.F. 1976. The vegetation of vernal pools: a survey. S.K. Jain (ed.) In: Vernal pools, their ecology and conservation. University of California Institute of Ecology, Davis. Publications. 9:11-15.
Holland, R.F., and S.K. Jain. 1977. Vernal pools. M. Barbour and J. Major (eds.) In: Terrestrial vegetation of California, Wiley Interscience, New York.
Jain, S.K. 1976. Some biogeographic aspects of plants communities in vernal pools. S.K. Jain (ed.) In: Vernal pools, their ecology and conservation. University of California Institute of Ecology, Davis. Publications. 9:15-21.
Reeder, J.R. 1965. The tribe of Orcuttieae and the subtribes of the Pappophoreae (gramineae). Madroño 18:18-28.
Reeder, J.R. 1982. Systematics of the tribe Orcuttieae (Gramineae) and the description of a new segregate genus, Tuctoria. American J. Bot. 69:1082-1095.
Stebbins, G.L. 1976. Ecological islands and vernal pools of California. S.K. Jain (ed.) In: Vernal pools their ecology and conservation. University of California Institute of Ecology, Davis. Publ. No. 9:1-4.
Stebbins, G.L., and B. Crampton. 1961. A suggested revision of grass genera of temperate North America. Recent Advances in Botany 1:133-145.
General Information about California Plants
Photo credit: Solano Grass© 1999 John Game Calphoto ID: 8251 3201 1721 0006
Prepared by Endangered Species Div., Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
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