Showy Whitetop
Rhynchospora niveanative · Hill Country
Showy Whitetop is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–1.5 ft tall and 1 ft wide. It wants full sun and medium water. Blooms white in spring, summer and fall. Evergreen — it holds its leaves through winter.
Wet ground only. Usually found in wetlands and creek bottoms. It wants reliably moist ground and struggles in a dry upland bed.
Will it grow in your yard?
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The facts
4 sources- Type
- Grass
- Sun
- Full sun (6–8 hrs of direct sun)
- Water
- Medium
- Height
- 1–1.5 ft
- Spread
- 1 ft
- Bloom
- Spring, Summer, Fall · white
- Foliage
- Evergreen
- Soil
- Recorded on calcareous, moist, well drained
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftNorthern Blackland PrairieFloodplains and Low Terraces
128 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.