Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Trichachne californica
Other common names
California cottontop
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Native
Season
Warm
Rocky ridges, margins of fields, plains and open ground.
Plant Community
Desert Scrub
Disturbed Areas
Grasslands
Interior Chaparral
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Low elevation
1000
High elevation
6000
General Description
Tall, 1 to 4 feet, with rather hard round stems sometimes bent abruptly, like a knee. Seedhead looks cottony when mature, before seeds fall.
Tufted perennial stems 16 to 39 inches tall erect from a swollen, knotty base; basal sheaths long soft hairs; collar hairy; contracted, branched seedhead; second glume narrow and densely hairy with soft white silky hairs tinged with purple.
Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
24 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
November
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Dense slender seedheads 2 to 6 inches long with spikelets which have silky, long, whitish or purplish tinged hairs.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
Yes
Blade cross-section
Flat
Folded
Blades 3/4 to 4-3/4 inches long, 1/16 to 1/2 inch wide, do not clasp the stem firmly but pull away, exposing a smooth purple to green internode.
Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No
Good.