A nursery I like has a big Koi pond, with grasses and other plants around ... one looks so similar to this: Zizania texana. Maybe something in that family?

Looks like a species of Bouteloua to me, blue grama grass. Also native to the area.

Oh, it does, gardengal! Hmm, I think I need some of that. Darn this board. 😄

Thank You both, but I am sure it is not Blue drama. Seeds are all wrong. Growing conditions are different.. And the Z. texana love truly wet . This grows on damp but not soggy. The blades are finer that the Z. Texana and shorter.. The inflorescent are not branched but a single structure. I want to give the plant to a very knowledgeable person and I don't want to look dumb. But hey , I am authentic so I will go with or without name.

the seed never forms an 'eyebrow' . I grow several gramas

It's this neat grass that....(blah) and hand them the pot. Walk away swiftly :)

Could it be Sideoats Grama? Mine aren't green like that yet, but with extra water, maybe.

not side oats gramas. smaller shorter. in height but the clump grows outward from lodged segments and sends some stolons out It is one I had never heard of before. I know side oats grams. I grow it also.. I might be bring some to the SA swap. Also the bloom time is way earlier than Side Oats Grama. It is blooming now. So it is a cool season grass.

I think we have a winner!!!! Thank you Thank you Jekeesl. I went to the Lady Bird Johnson data base and searched Melica species and came up with two possible. Melica nitens ( 3 flowered Melicagrass which is native in Travis county Texas and points west. or Melica mutica ( 2 flowered Meicagrass ) which is native to the east of here. I remember a common name that had 2 or 3 flowered in it . I hope it is the M nitens. but either is cool. I remember googling it and it said moist shade . I better go out and engrave it on some metal. It says Oak Savanahs. That I have.

You're welcome wantonamara. Your plants are likely Melica mutica since that species has simple panicles. Melica nitens has more spikelets on compound panicles, so can be a bit more showy. However, it has small spikelets at just 2-4 mm wide. Melica mutica's spikelets stand out more, with widths 5-7 mm wide.

Thank You again. That was my suspicion too.

I am going to look for M. nitens in the Barton Springs watershed.

There are several Melica nitens sites generally between Austin and San Antonio, per SERNEC. If you check Texas SERNEC entries, you'll see some post-2000 samples that will also include decent directions and/or GPS coordinates. Happy hunting.

I have never used this SERNEC. I can't focus on it right now. Buisy cleaning up the disaster that is my shop. New clients coming tomorrow.

Thank you for that site SERNEC. Last night , I figured out how to go to the state of your choice and search down the species on the interactive map. I think that people confuse the two possibly around here in texas. or both species grows at the exact same site by canyon Lake. I might go check that out. The site has earned a bookmark.

You probably saw that after you enter the state, you can also select a county below. That really helps with options.

No I didn't but I will look next time. It was overwhelming . I still can not tell what a grass looks like from a dried specimen all folded up. I am just an ordinary weekend dilettante. The photots are what I need but the map was incredible. That I can use.

You can also get mapped species on iNat, but their observations are made by hikers, botanists, camera enthusiasts, etc. with varying levels of skill. However, the SERNEC entries are from herbarium specimens, so the IDs are likely correct.

I do not think the iNat site has as complete a list either. I have seen the iNat sight. I forgot the name of it when I was looking.