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Wikipedia / Tussock grass

Tussock grasses (also known as bunch grasses or hummock grasses) are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.

Many species have long roots that may reach or more into the soil, which can aid slope stabilization, erosion control, and soil porosity for precipitation absorption. Also, their roots can reach moisture more deeply than other grasses and annual plants during seasonal or climatic droughts. The plants provide habitat and food for insects (including Lepidoptera), birds, small animals and larger herbivores, and support beneficial soil mycorrhiza. The leaves supply material, such as for basket weaving, for indigenous peoples and contemporary artists.

Tussock and bunch grasses occur in almost any habitat where other grasses are found, including: grasslands, savannas and prairies, wetlands and estuaries, riparian zones, shrublands and scrublands, woodlands and forests, montane and alpine zones, tundra and dunes, and deserts.

Fire resistance

In western North American wildfires, bunch grasses tend to smolder and not ignite into flames, unlike invasive species of annual grasses that contribute to a fire's spreading.

Genera

  1. Examples:

  2. Alloteropsis (tropical climates)

  3. Amphipogon (tropical climates)

  4. Ancistrachne (tropical climates)

  5. Andropogon (tropical climates)

  6. Aristida (tropical climates)

  7. Arundinella (tropical climates)

  8. Astrebla (tropical climates)

  9. Bothriochloa (tropical climates)

  10. Brachypodium (temperate climates)

  11. Calamagrostis (temperate climates)

  12. Cenchrus (tropical climates)

  13. Chionochloa (temperate climates)

  14. Chloris (tropical climates)

  15. Chrysopogon (tropical climates)

  16. Cymbopogon (tropical climates)

  17. Deschampsia (temperate climates)

  18. Dichanthium (tropical climates)

  19. Digitaria (tropical climates)

  20. Enteropogon (tropical climates)

  21. Eragrostis (tropical climates)

  22. Eriachne (tropical climates)

  23. Eulalia (tropical climates)

  24. Festuca (temperate climates)

  25. Heteropogon (tropical climates)

  26. Leptochloa (tropical climates)

  27. Leymus (temperate climates)

  28. Melica (tropical climates)

  29. Mnesithea (tropical climates)

  30. Muhlenbergia (temperate climates)

  31. Nassella (temperate climates)

  32. Neurachne (tropical climates)

  33. Ophiuros (tropical climates)

  34. Oryza (tropical climates)

  35. Oxychloris (tropical climates)

  36. Panicum (tropical climates)

  37. Paraneurachne (tropical climates)

  38. Paspalidium (tropical climates)

  39. Sehima (tropical climates)

  40. Sorghum (tropical climates)

  41. Sporobolus (tropical climates)

  42. Stipa (temperate climates)

  43. Themeda (tropical climates)

  44. Triodia, formerly Plectrachne (Australia)

  45. Tripogon (tropical climates)

  46. Triraphis (tropical climates)

  47. Xerochloa (tropical climates)

  48. Yakirra (tropical climates)

  49. Zygochloa (tropical climates)

Species

Australia

New Zealand

North America

  1. Bunch grasses:

  2. Aristida purpurea – purple three-awn

  3. Bouteloua gracilis – blue grama

  4. Calamagrostis foliosa – leafy reedgrass (endemic to California)

  5. Calamagrostis nutkaensis – Pacific reedgrass

  6. Calamagrostis purpurascens – purple reedgrass

  7. Danthonia californica – California oatgrass

  8. Eriocoma lettermanii – Letterman's needlegrass

  9. Eriophorum vaginatum – hare's-tail cottongrass

  10. Festuca californica – California fescue

  11. Festuca idahoensis – Idaho fescue

  12. Festuca rubra – red fescue

  13. Koeleria macrantha – junegrass

  14. Leymus condensatus – giant wildrye

  15. Melica californica – California melic

  16. Melica imperfecta – smallflower melic

  17. Muhlenbergia rigens – deer grass

  18. Nassella lepida – foothill needlegrass

  19. Nassella pulchra – purple needlegrass (the state grass of California)

  20. Poa secunda – pine bluegrass

  21. Sporobolus heterolepis – prairie dropseed

  22. Sporobolus virginicus – salt couch grass

  23. Tripsacum dactyloides – eastern gamagrass

South America

Africa

Europe

See also

Non-Poaceae tussocks

References