Deschampsia flexuosa
Deschampsia brevifolia
Appalachian hairgrass, common hairgrass, crinkled hairgrass, deschampsie flexueuse, wavy hair-grass
Bering hairgrass
30-80 cm, erect or geniculate at the base, usually with 2 nodes.
5-55 cm, erect, glabrous.
mostly basal, sometimes forming a basal tuft;
sheaths smooth, glabrous;
ligules 1.5-3.6 mm, rounded to acute;
blades 12-25 cm long, strongly rolled, 0.3-0.5 mm in diameter, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, glabrous or hairy, often scabridulous or hairy proximally and essentially smooth and glabrous distally, adaxial surfaces scabrous, flag leaf blades 5-8 cm.
often forming a basal tuft;
sheaths glabrous;
ligules 1-4.5 mm, acute or acuminate, entire;
blades 2-12 (16) cm long, usually 0.3-0.8 mm in diameter, folded or convolute, 0.5-2 mm wide when flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely hirtellous, sometimes scabrous, blades of flag leaves 0.8-3 cm.
5-15 cm long, (2)4-12 cm wide, narrow to open, often nodding;
branches ascending to spreading, flexuous, smooth or scabridulous.
1.5-10(12) cm long, 0.5-2(11) cm wide, usually dense, oblong-ovate to narrowly cylindrical;
branches 1-3.6(6) cm, straight, usually stiff, erect to ascending, usually smooth or almost so, scabrules separated by 0.2+ mm, spikelet-bearing to near the base.
4-7 mm, ovate or U-shaped.
2.3-6 mm, ovate to obovate, with 2(3) florets.
exceeded by or subequal to the adjacent florets, 1-veined, acute;
lower glumes 2.7-4.5 mm;
upper glumes 3.5-5 mm;
callus hairs to 1 mm;
lemmas 3.3-5 mm, scabridulous or puberulent, hairs to 0.1 mm, apices acute, erose to 4-toothed, awns 3.7-7 mm, attached near the base of the lemma, strongly geniculate, geniculation below the lemma apices, distal segment 2.5-4.5 mm, pale;
anthers 2-3 mm.
subequal to equal, 2.5-5.6 mm, purplish over more than 1/2 their surface, lanceolate, smooth, acuminate or acute;
lower glumes 1-veined, smooth;
upper glumes exceeding to exceeded by the lowest floret, 3-veined;
callus hairs 0.2-2 mm;
lemmas 2.2-4 mm, oblong or lanceolate, smooth, shiny, glabrous, awns (0.2)0.7-4 mm, usually equaling or exceeding the lemmas, straight or weakly geniculate, usually attached from near the base to midlength, occasionally connate almost their full length;
anthers 1.2-2.5 mm.
= 14, 26, 28, 32, 42.
= 26, 27, 28, about 50, 52.
Deschampsia flexuosa
Deschampsia brevifolia
Deschampsia flexuosa grows on dry, often rocky slopes, and in woods and thickets, often in disturbed sites. In the Flora region, it is primarily eastern in distribution, with records from west of the Great Lakes and Appalachians probably being introductions. It is also known from Mexico, Central America, South America, Borneo, the Philippines, and New Zealand.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Deschampsia brevifolia is a circumboreal taxon that grows in wet places in the tundra, often in disturbed soils associated with riverbanks, frost-heaving, etc. It is interpreted here as extending southward through the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, where it grows at elevations up to 4300 m. It is to be expected from high elevations in British Columbia and Alberta; specimens currently identified as D. cespitosa, in which D. brevifolia is often included as a subspecies, need to be examined.
In its typical appearance, Deschampsia brevifolia is quite distinctive because of its dark, narrow panicles. Culm height can vary substantially from year to year, probably in response to the environment. Aiken et al. (1995 on) reported that plants transplanted from Eureka Sound, Ellesmere Island (80° 9' N 86° 0' W) to Iqaluit, Baffin Island (64° 44' N 68° 28' W) became smaller and more stunted; most of those transplanted to Ottawa, Ontario (45° 18' N 75° 50' W) died, but some grew larger than at the original site, and developed more diffuse panicles.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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