Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. holciformis

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tufted hairgrass is a California native perennial found in coastal regions including northern California Coast, northern California Coast Ranges, delta regions of the Sacramento Valley, and California Coast at elevations below 850 meters in coastal marshes and meadows. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces delicate, narrow inflorescences with pale green to silvery flowers in compact clusters. Growing in loosely to densely clumped formations with glaucous stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall, it creates distinctive tufted mounds in wet habitats. Its leaves are narrow and grass-like, forming dense clumps with fine, wispy texture. The plant's flowers feature intricate spikelets with glumes 4.6 to 5.8 millimeters long and delicate awns attached near the middle of each lemma.

Habitat: Coastal marshes, meadows

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 850 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, deltaic ScV, CCo

California counties: Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Santa Cruz, Marin, Monterey, San Francisco, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Solano, Sacramento

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