Arizona Cottontop
Digitaria californica

Family: Poaceae

Tufted, perennial grass reaching about 3 and a half feet tall. The branching root system can reach one meter deep. There are no rhizomes or stolons. The leaf sheaths around the stems can be very hairy to woolly. The leaves are usually short and narrow. The inflorescence is a dense, narrow panicle containing pairs of woolly-haired spikelets. This species is nearly evergreen.

Full sun best, looks best on irrigation, but may reseed readily and grow outside of irrigation, especially in areas that naturally collect moisture.

Birds love the fluff for nest building and granivorous birds love the seeds.

This species is a preferred grass for livestock such as cattle. It tolerates high grazing activity, but not overgrazing. It is most palatable when green but also provides dry forage for cattle. It is mainly grazed by cattle and horses and occasionally by sheep and goats, black-tailed jackrabbits and other wildlife species including the javelina, scaled quail, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and desert cottontail.

Like most grasses this is a larval host for many lepidoptera. The Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) particularly likes to use this plant.

The genus, Digitaria, is from Latin digitus, a finger referring to the digitate blooms/seadheads and the species name, californica, is for California.

Found on open, well-drained soils, often on steep, rocky slopes; 1,000-6000 ft. in southern California, west through all of Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, Texas and southern Oklahoma; south through Mexico to south America.

Photo by Stephen Ramirez, iNaturalist
Digitaria californica on SEINET