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Deergrass
Trichophorum cespitosum
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Deergrass is a small, grass‑like plant that forms tight tussocks in bogs and wet heaths. It grows 20–30 cm tall with leafless green stems and a single tiny brown flower head at the tip of each stem. You often see it covering open, wet peat where few other plants manage.
Did you know?
- It relies on the wind to spread its pollen.
- There are two subspecies: one typical of bogs and one of dry heaths.
About the species
Identification
Forms tight tussocks of many upright, stiff, round, smooth green stems, 20–30 cm tall. Stems are leafless; at the base are shiny brown to grey bases, with only a tiny 0.5–1 cm leaf tip. Each stem ends in one small pale to yellow‑brown head about 4–5 mm long. Later it bears small hard grey, three‑edged seeds. Easy to tell from cottongrasses: they have fluffy white heads, while deergrass never does and has just one small brown tip per stem. Kukkii keskikesällä, kesä–heinäkuussa (VI–VII).
Plant group
Grasses, sedges and rushes
Habitat
mire
Flowering
Jun–Jul
About the habitat
Open, acidic peat bogs, wet heaths and other peaty, waterlogged ground in sunny, nutrient‑poor places; often forming dense tussocks. Melko yleinen koko maassa lukuun ottamatta Etelä- ja Kaakkois-Suomea, missä melko harvinainen.
Sources
Photo: Floris Vanderhaeghe, CC0 1.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6195256156
Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtö ja Västerskog, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40253
Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40253
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupasluikka
