Deschampsia flexuosa

Plants perennial; densely cespitose. Culms 30-80 cm, erect or geniculate at the base, usually with 2 nodes. Leaves 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. Panicles 5-15 cm long, (2) 4-12 cm wide, narrow to open, often nodding; branches ascending to spreading, flexuous, smooth or scabridulous. Spikelets 4-7 mm, ovate or U-shaped. Glumes 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. 2n = 14, 26, 28, 32, 42.

Conn., N.J., N.Y., Del., D.C., Wis., W.Va., Mass., Maine, N.H., R.I., Vt., N.C., N.Dak., Tenn., Pa., B.C., Greenland, N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Va., Alaska, Ala., Ark., Ga., Okla., Md., Mich., Minn., Ohio, S.C., Ky.

Discussion

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa