Eureka Valley is located in Inyo County, in eastern California in the southwestern United States. It is approximately 28 miles (45 km) long and up to 10 miles (16 km) wide, with elevations varying from 2870 feet up to 8456 feet. The southern section of the valley is now part of the Death Valley National Park - Death Valley itself lies just to the southeast. To the north is Deep Springs Valley, Fish Lake Valley, and the White Mountain Range. To the east the Last Chance Range rises over 5500 feet above the valley floor. To the west are the Saline Mountains, and to the southwest lies Saline Valley.
Dissanthelium is a genus of plants in the grass family. It is native to the Americas, especially in the Andes of South America.
Ammophila arenaria is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. It is known by the common names marram grass and European beachgrass. It is one of two species of the genus Ammophila. It is native to the coastlines of Europe and North Africa where it grows in the sands of beach dunes. It is a perennial grass forming stiff, hardy clumps of erect stems up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in height. It grows from a network of thick rhizomes which give it a sturdy anchor in its sand substrate and allow it to spread upward as sand accumulates. These rhizomes can grow laterally by 2 metres (7 feet) in six months. One clump can produce 100 new shoots annually.
Nassella pulchra, basionym Stipa pulchra, is a species of grass known by the common names purple needlegrass and purple tussockgrass. It is native to the U.S. state of California, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and mountain ranges, as well as the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, and Baja California.
Neostapfia is a genus of endemic Californian bunchgrasses, in the subfamily Chloridoideae of the grass family, Poaceae. The only known species is Neostapfia colusana, with the common name Colusa grass.
Danthonia californica is a species of grass known by the common name California oatgrass. This plant is native to two separate regions of the Americas, western North America from California to Saskatchewan, and Chile.
Erysimum menziesii is a species of Erysimum known by the common name Menzies' wallflower.
Fritillaria striata, known by the common name striped adobe lily, is an uncommon species of fritillary.
Carex pansa is a species of sedge known by the common name sand dune sedge. It is native to coast of western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in dunes and other sandy habitat. This grasslike sedge produces sharply triangular stems up to about 40 centimeters tall from a network of thin, long, coarse rhizomes. The inflorescence is a cluster of several spikes of dark brownish flowers. The plant is often dioecious, with an individual producing either male or female flowers in its inflorescences, but not both. This sedge is sometimes used as a grass substitute in local landscaping schemes.
Chorizanthe valida is a rare species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name Sonoma spineflower. It is endemic to West Marin, Marin County, California, where it is known from only one remaining natural population at Point Reyes National Seashore. It was thought to be extinct until 1980 when the Point Reyes population was discovered.
Hordeum intercedens is an diploid, annual species of wild barley known by the common names bobtail barley and vernal barley. It is native to southern California and northern Baja California, where it is an increasingly rare member of the flora in saline and alkaline soils near seasonal waterflows and vernal pool habitats. Today most occurrences are located on the Channel Islands of California; many of the occurrences known from the mainland have been extirpated in the process of land development. This is an annual grass growing erect to bent in small tufts with stems up to 40 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a green spike up to 6.5 centimeters long made up of awned spikelets between 1 and 2 centimeters long.
Lessingia germanorum is a rare species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name San Francisco lessingia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from four populations in the Presidio of San Francisco and one occurrence on San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco. It is a state and federally listed endangered species. The already rare plant is endangered by many processes, including invasive species, development, sand mining, off-road vehicles and bulldozers, habitat fragmentation, trampling, and pollution, as well as stochastic events.
Oenothera californica, known by the common name California evening primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family.
Oenothera wolfii is a rare species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name Wolf's evening primrose. It is native to the coastline of southern Oregon and northern California, where it grows in coastal prairie, dunes, and coastal forest and woodland habitat. As of 1997 it was known from only about 16 occurrences. The biggest threat to the plant is its easy hybridization with its relative and probable descendant, Oenothera glazioviana. As this rare wild plant crosses with the introduced garden escapee, introgression occurs, causing what is known as genetic pollution; fewer pure individuals of O. wolfii will be seen as they are outnumbered by hybrids.
Orcuttia pilosa is a rare species of grass known by the common name hairy Orcutt grass.
Phacelia argentea is a rare species of phacelia known by the common names sand dune phacelia and silvery phacelia. It is native to the coastline of southwestern Oregon and far northwestern California, where it was counted at a total of 33 sites in 1995. It is the only phacelia species endemic to coastal sand dune habitat, an ecosystem which is altered and declining in the area.
Poa douglasii is a species of grass known by the common names Douglas' bluegrass and sand dune bluegrass. It is endemic to the coastline of California, where it grows in shifting sand dunes. It can be found mostly along the Central Coast and Channel Islands, and occasionally on the North Coast north of Mendocino. It is a perennial grass growing small, dense clumps up to about 30 centimeters in maximum height. It grows from a network of long rhizomes and stolons that anchor the grass to its loose sandy substrate; this network may be up to one meter long. The inflorescence is a dense, oval-shaped series of overlapping spikelets. The grass is dioecious, with male and female individuals producing different types of flowers in their inflorescences. This species, like many sand-dune endemic plants, is threatened by invasive species.
Poa macrantha is a species of grass known by the common names seashore bluegrass and large-flowered sand dune bluegrass. It is native to the west coast of North America from Alaska to northern California, where it grows in sand dunes and other beach habitat.
Jason Richard Swallen was an American botanist specializing in grasses.
Hilaria rigida is a species of clumping perennial grass that is widespread in California deserts. It is commonly known as big galleta. It is a monocot in the Hilaria genus of the grass family (Poaceae).
