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An introduced annual grass that gets a head start on native plants by sprouting in fall.
Cheatgrass arrived in shipments of European wheat in the late 1800s and spread quickly across the West. It is an annual that germinates in the fall and builds roots over winter, so it is ready to grow in early spring while most desert plants are just waking up.
It also uses water efficiently and moves quickly into disturbed ground, especially after wildfire or grazing. The National Park Service says native grasslands are increasingly rare as a result, and that where cheatgrass dominates, biological diversity and soil health decline.
Native bunchgrasses grow in separate clumps; cheatgrass tends to fill the spaces between.
A foundational shrub of Utah's open country, with small gray-green leaves and an outsized role in wildlife habitat.
A flexible-stemmed native shrub whose late-season yellow flowers extend feeding opportunities for pollinators.
Utah's state flower briefly lifts a three-petaled cup above open, dry-country vegetation before its aboveground growth fades.
Utah's state grass is a cool-season perennial whose airy seedheads rise from distinct clumps on dry ground.