Deschampsia flexuosa
Wavy hair-grass
How do you recognise wavy hair-grass?
The green, thread-like leaves lie loosely near the ground in a dense tuft. The flowering stem grows 30–70 cm tall, and its panicle is sparse and delicately gauzy, on hair-fine branches.
What is it confused with?
Bushgrass has a flat leaf 4–6 mm wide and a dense, narrow panicle. Wavy hair-grass has a thread-like leaf and an airy panicle.
Where does wavy hair-grass grow, and when does it flower?
Wavy hair-grass favours bright places: clearings, mesic and dryish heath forest, rocks, paths, verges, and dry grassland. Flowering is in June and July.
Can you collect it for a herbarium?
Wavy hair-grass is a very common forest grass, and one flowering stem is enough.
Did you know?
The hair-fine branches make the panicle look like dust hanging in the air. Its dense tufts are in many places the commonest grass of heath forest.
Where does wavy hair-grass grow in Finland?
The map shows where the species has been recorded. Darker squares mean more observations.
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Observations: GBIF · Map: CARTO, OpenStreetMap
Sources: fi.wikipedia.org
Identify plants with your phone
Linnea identifies a plant from a photo and tells you its name and its story. Every find takes its own numbered place in your herbarium, with the day and the town where you found it.
