Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. cespitosa

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tufted hairgrass is a California native perennial found in the northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, Transverse Ranges, Warner Mountains, northern eastern Sierra Nevada, and White and Inyo Mountains in meadows, streambanks, coastal marshes, forest, and alpine habitats at elevations up to 3,820 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces delicate open panicles with spreading to drooping branches that create a soft, airy appearance. Growing in dense, tightly clustered clumps with erect stems reaching up to one meter tall, it forms robust green tussocks that provide important ground cover in mountain environments. Its leaves are narrow and grass-like, forming dense basal clusters that create a compact, rounded base beneath the open flower branches. The fine, pale flower branches bear small spikelets with delicate awns that shimmer and move gracefully in alpine and mountain breezes.

Habitat: Meadows, streambanks, coastal marshes, forest, alpine

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: < 3820 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, CCo, SnFrB, TR, Wrn, n SNE, W&ampI

California counties: Inyo, Butte, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, San Bernardino, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Kern, Lake, Marin, Napa, San Diego, Solano, Amador, Alpine, Placer, Calaveras, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Colusa, Tehama, Monterey, Alameda, Ventura, San Mateo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.