Eriophorum gracile

Slender cottongrass, Slender Cottongrass

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Slender cottongrass is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada Highlands, and historically in San Francisco Bay Area at elevations of 600 to 2,900 meters in wet meadows and bogs. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white, delicate perianth bristles 10 to 20 millimeters long that give it a distinctive cotton-like appearance. Growing with smooth stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall and long rhizomes, it spreads gradually across wet landscapes. Its leaves are thin and narrow, measuring 2 to 30 centimeters long and only 1 to 2 millimeters wide, with a distinctively three-sided blade that tapers towards the tip. The plant produces 1 to 5 small spikelets 7 to 11 millimeters long, each with delicate white flower bracts.

Habitat: Wet meadows, bogs

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: generally 600-2900 m

Bioregions: KR, CaR, n&ampc SNH, SnFrB (extirpated)

California counties: El Dorado, Lassen, Tuolumne, Sierra, Shasta, Nevada, Butte, Plumas, Siskiyou, Mariposa, Modoc, Madera, Mono, Monterey, Alpine, Mendocino

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