Deschampsia flexuosa

'Deschampsia flexuosa'
Wavy hair-grass
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Deschampsia
Species: D. flexuosa
Binomial name
Deschampsia flexuosa
(L.) Trin.
Synonyms

Avenella flexuosa - L.

Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin. (syn. Avenella flexuosa L.; Lerchenfeldia flexuosa (L.) Schur), or Wavy Hair-grass, is a species of bunchgrass in the Poaceae family with a Holarctic distribution.

Habitat and distribution

Deschampsia flexuosa is found naturally in dry grasslands and on moors and heaths.

It is also an important component of the ground flora of birch and oak woodland. [1]

The plant has a preference for acidic, free-draining soil, and avoids chalk and limestone areas. It can exist over 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level.[2]

Description

Wavy hair-grass, Deschampsia flexuosa, has wiry leaves and delicate, shaking panicles 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 30cm hi.

See also

References

  1. see British NVC community W11 (Quercus petraeaBetula pubescensOxalis acetosella woodland) and British NVC community W16 (Quercus spp.–Betula spp.–Deschampsia flexuosa woodland).
  2. BSBI Description retrieved 1 December 2010.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avenella flexuosa (Deschampsia flexuosa).