Plants annual. Culms 3-35 cm, ascending to erect, often branched at the lowest nodes, glabrous; nodes purple. Ligules membranous; auricles absent; blades involute, nearly filiform. Inflorescences slender, distichous, terminal spikes, with solitary spikelets sunken in the rachises, spikelets occasionally paired, upper spikelets shortly pedicellate (very rarely 3 or 4 spikelets per node); disarticulation above the glumes and beneath the florets. Spikelets laterally compressed, with 1 floret; rachillas prolonged beyond the florets. Glumes exceeding the florets, glabrous, 2-keeled, unawned, reddish- or purplish-tinged; lower glumes longer and narrower than the upper glumes, 2-3-veined; upper glumes 3-4-veined; calluses pubescent; lemmas membranous, inconspicuously 5-veined, shortly bifid, awned from the sinus; paleas tightly clasped by the lemmas; anthers 1. Caryopses about 2.5 mm, fusiform; hila punctiform; embryos about 1/4 the length of the caryopses. x = 13. Named for Frank Lamson Scribner (1851-1938), an American agrostologist.

Scribneria is a monospecific genus that is native from Washington to Mexico.

1.   Scribneria bolanderi (Thurb.) Hack.
Scribner Grass

Culms (3)10-35 cm. Ligules 2-4 mm; blades 1-3 cm long, 0.8-1.6 mm wide, abaxial surfaces scabrous over the midveins. Spikes (2)4-11 cm long, 1-2.5 mm wide. Spikelets (3)4-7 mm, slightly longer than the adjacent internodes. Lemmas glabrous or scabridulous above and on the keels; awns 2-4 mm, inconspicuous; paleas generally smaller than the lemmas, apices notched. 2n = 26.

Scribneria bolanderi grows between 500-3000 m. It grows in diverse habitats, ranging from dry, sandy or rocky soils to seepages and vernal pools. It is often overlooked because it is relatively inconspicuous. Its range extends south into Baja California, Mexico.