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Plains snakecotton

Froelichia floridana

Also called Florida Snake Cotton, Cottontails, Plains Snake Cotton, Florida Snakecotton, Cottonweed, Field Snakecotton, Prairie Froelichia

Plains snakecotton
Photo: Aarongunnar, CC BY-SA 3.0

Plains snakecotton is a tall annual wildflower native to central and eastern North America, grown for its woolly white flowers on stalks up to about 1 m tall. It spreads readily from seed and is considered a weed in farmland and an invasive species in Australia, so grow it with care.

Family
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth & beet family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Water during dry spells while young; it tolerates drought once established.
Soil
Tolerates poor, sandy or clay soils, as long as drainage is adequate.
Temperature
Tolerates warm summers and cool winters; frost-tender as an annual, sown after frost risk passes.
How easy
Easy
Native range
C. & E. U.S.A. to E. Mexico
Climate
temperate

About

Froelichia floridana is a species of flowering plant in the genus Froelichia, in the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). It is known as prairie cottonweed, Florida snakecotton, large cottonweed, field snakecotton, or plains snakecotton. An annual, it produces white woolly flowers on tall flowering stalks, growing up to 40 in (1,000 mm) in height. The narrowly oblanceolate to elliptic leaves are opposite, occurring on the lower third of the stem. It grows in central and eastern North America, from the Great Plains to Mexico, east to the Atlantic Coast. Its propensity to spread easily has resulted in it being considered an agricultural weed and it is an invasive species in Australia.

Other Froelichia plants

Froelichia juncea · Froelichia nudicaulis · Snakecotton

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Froelichia floridana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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