Calamagrostis breweri Thurb.

vernacular shorthair reedgrass — species · Poaceae

USDA: CABR
GBIF: 2704910
Rank: species

shorthair reedgrass (Calamagrostis breweri) — Platephotograph · Shane HanofeeCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Calamagrostis

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 17 counties across 2 states/territories

Legend Native · 17 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: High
Moisture use: High
Fire: High
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 110 min.
Precipitation: 24–60 in/yr
pH range: 5–7.5
Root depth: 10 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 5 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Summer
Seed abundance: Low
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 2,000,000
Propagation: sprigs

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 17 counties across 2 states/territories.

California view state ↗ 13 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 4 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CABR ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2704910 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z