E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. beringensis (Hult.) Lawrence
tufted hairgrass
Poaceae (Grass family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants
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E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. beringensis
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Species Information

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General:
Perennial, strongly tufted grass from fibrous roots, stems numerous, 20-120 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths open, smooth to rough; blades matted at the base, rather stiff, sometimes flat but most folded or in-rolled, smooth to rough below, rough above, with a few, prominent, raised nerves, 1.5-3 (4) mm wide; ligules entire but often split, hairy, sharp-pointed or rounded, 4-8 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose and open to narrow panicle, 8-30 cm long, the branches spreading or drooping to erect (even at maturity); spikelets usually glistening, purplish to tawny, 2-flowered, rarely 3-flowered, glumes rather narrow, the lower ones 1-nerved, 2.5-5 (6) mm long, the upper ones 3-nerved, often somewhat jagged, 3-6 (7) mm long; lemmas 5-nerved, 2.5-4 mm long, the tips jagged and 4-toothed, awned from the base, the awns 3-5 mm long, straight or bent, the callus hairs about 1 mm long; lodicules egg-shaped to lanceolate, 0.7-1 mm long, anthers 1.2-2.2 mm long.
Notes:
This is a widespread, difficult complex and until an adequate monographic study is undertaken we are recognizing only two subspecies for BC:

1. Glumes mostly 5-7 mm long; lemmas averaging 4 mm long; panicles open during flowering .... ssp. beringensis (Hult.) Lawrence

1. Glumes mostly less than 5 mm long; lemmas averaging 3.5 mm, if longer then the panicles closed at flowering .... ssp. cespitosa

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Saline meadows, beaches and tidal marshes in the lowland zone and moist meadows in the montane to alpine zones (ssp. beringensis) and moist to mesic meadows, lakes shores, rocky ridges, shrub-carrs and talus slopes in the montane to alpine zones (ssp. cespitosa); ssp. beringensis - common along the coast, ssp. cespitosa - common in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains in BC; ssp. beringensis - amphiberingian, N to AK and S to N WA; ssp. cespitosa - circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, NC, KY, IL, MN, SD, NM, AZ, and CA; Greenland, Eurasia

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Deschampsia beringensis Hultén

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

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General References