Digitaria californica var. californica

Arizona cottontop

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Arizona cottontop is a native perennial grass found in the San Bernardino and San Diego Mountains in rocky hillsides at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from October to November, this plant produces spikelets with white to purple hairy flowers approximately 3 to 4 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 40 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms a dense tussock-like clump with multiple stems. Its leaf blades are 2 to 12 centimeters long and 2 to 5 millimeters wide, ranging from glabrous to slightly hairy. The grass has distinctive inflorescences with 4 to 10 appressed to ascending primary branches, creating a panicle-like arrangement.

Habitat: Rocky hillsides

Bloom period: Oct-Nov

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: DMtns (San Bernardino Co.), DSon (San Diego Co.)

California counties: San Bernardino, San Diego

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.