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Portrait of Tufted hair-grass

Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants

Tufted hair-grass

Native · flowers June–August · tussocks to 1.2 m · wet meadows, woodland rides and heavy soils

Deschampsia cespitosa — Poaceae

Tufted hair-grass is the big, dark, tussocky grass of damp meadows, woodland rides, marshy ground and heavy clay soils, very common throughout Britain. Its narrow leaves are ridged above and so rough that they cut the fingers if drawn the wrong way, and in summer it throws up clouds of fine, silvery-purple flower sprays on arching stems. It is also called hassock grass or tussock grass, from the great tufts it builds.

How to spot them

  • ▸Large dense tussocks of dark green, stiff, narrow leaves to about 5 mm wide with strong parallel ridges and furrows above
  • ▸Leaf edges and upper surface very rough, cutting the fingers when pulled the wrong way
  • ▸Airy, much-branched panicles of silvery-purple, shimmering flowers, June to August, on stems up to 1.2 m
  • ▸Two florets in each shiny spikelet
  • ▸Look-alike: wavy hair-grass has thread-fine, hair-like leaves and grows on dry acid heath, not on wet heavy ground; cocksfoot and purple moor-grass also form tussocks but lack the rough ridged leaf

How to know it

Big tussocks of ridged, razor-rough leaves crowned in summer by shimmering silvery-purple sprays

Tufted hair-grass.

The leaves cut the fingers if pulled in one direction because of their rough, ridged surface

Tufted hair-grass.

Also called hassock grass, for the great tussocks it forms on wet, heavy ground

Tufted hair-grass — also tussock grass.

Each spikelet carries just two florets, in a branched, airy flower head

Tufted hair-grass.

Very common throughout Britain, especially on wet or marshy ground, wet woodland and heavy soils

Tufted hair-grass.

Quick-fire facts

  • •A native, very common grass; NatureSpot lists it in 589 of 617 Leicestershire tetrads in the 1979 flora survey
  • •Grows in tufts up to 120 cm tall with leaves about 5 mm wide, ridged and furrowed above
  • •Flowers from June to August in a branched panicle with two florets per spikelet
  • •The RHS lists other common names as hassock grass and tussock grass
  • •Its close relative wavy hair-grass, Deschampsia flexuosa, has hair-fine leaves and lives on acid heath and moor, with wall brown caterpillars feeding on it
  • •Tussocks give shelter for invertebrates and small mammals in wet grassland
  • •Valued in gardens for its airy flower sprays that persist into winter

Drill it — 5 cards

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Sources