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3.9: Tufted hairgrass

  • Page ID
    91484
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    Tufted hairgrass in full flower, ‘Goldstaub’ in foreground.
    Tufted hairgrass in full flower, ‘Goldstaub’ in foreground.

    Deschampsia cespitosa

    Cool season; Perennial

    Characteristics: 3–4’; mound; foliage dark green; flowers beige

    Growing Conditions: average to wet soils; sun to shade; hardy zones 3–9

    This mound-forming grass requires moisture to establish. It is semi-evergreen, and one of the first grasses to grow in the spring. Foliage may show rust, but it is not fatal.

    Nativars:

    • ‘Bronzeschleier’: bronze veil hairgrass, flowers are darker, more bronze colored.
    • ‘Goldstaub’: gold dust hairgrass, shorter, only 1–2’, beautiful mound habit.
    • ‘Schottland’: Scotland hairgrass, yellow flowers, 2–3’, most common nativar.

    Associated Lepidoptera:

    No records of Lepidoptera feeding on tufted hairgrass were found in the literature, but further research into Lepidoptera larval habits may discover associations in the future.


    This page titled 3.9: Tufted hairgrass is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Diane M. Narem and Mary Hockenberry Meyer (Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.