Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Tufted hairgrass
Deschampsia cespitosa
Tufted hairgrass is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 435 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Tufted hairgrass at a glance
- Native in
- 435 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3.4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Tufted hairgrass is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 435 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 435 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 23 counties
- Arizona 5 counties
- California 38 counties
- Colorado 32 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 26 counties
- Illinois 7 counties
- Indiana 7 counties
- Kentucky 3 counties
- Maine 13 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 19 counties
- Minnesota 16 counties
- Montana 3 counties
- Nevada 9 counties
- New Hampshire 4 counties
- New Jersey 5 counties
- New Mexico 13 counties
- New York 30 counties
- North Carolina 1 county
- North Dakota 14 counties
- Ohio 4 counties
- Oregon 30 counties
- Pennsylvania 16 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 2 counties
- Utah 27 counties
- Vermont 4 counties
- Virginia 3 counties
- Washington 25 counties
- West Virginia 7 counties
- Wisconsin 20 counties
- Wyoming 18 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.4 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 24 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- DECE
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Deschampsia cespitosa (PLANTS symbol DECE).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources