Scientific Name
Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) P. Beauv.
Common Name(s)
Tufted hairgrass, salt-and-pepper grass
Tribe / Family Name
Poeae
Flowering Period
June to September
Symbol
DECE
Description
Tufted hairgrass is a native cool-season perennial bunchgrass that reproduces from seeds and tillers. Culms usually range from 35–150 cm in height. The inflorescence is a shiny, often nodding, contracted to open, diffuse panicle usually 8–30 cm long with capillary, whorled branches. Spikelets are 2.5–7.6 mm long, ovate to V-shaped, laterally compressed, tawny to purplish in color, usually bicolored, 2(3)-flowered, and awned (awns are usually up to 5 mm long, straight or geniculate, occasionally exceeding the glumes, and attached below mid-length of the lemma). Ligules are 2–13 mm long, membranous, acuminate, entire to lacerate, glabrous, and decurrent.
General Info
Tufted hairgrass can be found in wet meadows and bogs, streams and lakes, and montane to alpine sites.
Similar Species
Tufted hairgrass is unique among wetland and higher elevation herbaceous plants and is not easily confused with sedges, rushes, or other grasses. However, it should not be confused with slender hairgrass (Deschampsia elongata) and annual hairgrass (Deschampsia danthonioides). To differentiate these species from each other, compare their heights, size of the lemma awns, and inflorescences. Although tufted hairgrass and slender hairgrass are taller plants with lemma awns usually up to 5 mm long, they can be separated by examining their inflorescences: tufted hairgrass has a shiny, often nodding, contracted to open, diffuse panicle inflorescence, while slender hairgrass has a contracted panicle inflorescence. Annual hairgrass has lemma awns usually up to 7.5 mm long and is a smaller plant with panicle inflorescences that are much broader and open than slender hairgrass.
Picture of growth habit.
Inflorescence is a loose, often nodding, usually open, sometimes contracted and ovate panicle.
Close-up picture of spikelet.
Close-up picture of membranous ligule.
Illustration of tufted hairgrass. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. <i>Manual of the grasses of the United States.</i> USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.