''Deschampsia flexuosa'', commonly known as wavy hair-grass, is a species of
bunchgrass
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...
in the
grass family widely distributed in
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref>
Description
Wavy hair-grass, ''Deschampsia flexuosa'', has wiry leaves and delicate, shaking panicles
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are o ...
formed of silvery or purplish-brown flower heads on wavy, hair-like stalks.
The leaves are bunched in tight tufts with plants forming a very tussocky, low sward 5 to 20 cm tall before flowering, to 30 cm high.
File:Deschampsia flexuosa.jpg, Illustration of ''D. flexuosa'' (including '' D. caespitosa'')
File:Avenella flexuosa.jpg, Mature inflorescence
Distribution and habitat
''Deschampsia flexuosa'' is found naturally in dry grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
s and on moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
and heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
s.
It is also an important component of the ground flora of birch and oak woodland.
The plant has a preference for acidic, free-draining soil, and avoids chalk and limestone areas. It can exist over above sea level.BSBI Description
retrieved 1 December 2010.
See also
*
—''birch and oak woodland''
References
External links
Sky flora: ''Deschampsia flexuosa''
flexuosa
Bunchgrasses of Europe
Bunchgrasses of North America
Bunchgrasses of South America
Bunchgrasses of Africa
Butterfly food plants
{{Pooideae-stub