Deschampsia elongata(Hook.) Munro

slender hairgrass

WFO wfo-0000862581 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Deschampsia elongata, photographed by Matt Lavin
fig. a Matt Lavin, CC BY 4.0 / 2016-07-31 / obs. 156518045

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 26 botanical countries

Regions where Deschampsia elongata is native: Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Nunavut, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Yukon, Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile South AlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaIdahoMaineMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SouthwestMontanaNevadaNew MexicoNunavutOregonSouth CarolinaUtahWashingtonWyomingYukonArgentina SouthChile CentralChile South
Native distribution of Deschampsia elongata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Idaho IDA
Maine MAI
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southwest MXS
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Mexico NWM
Nunavut NUN
Oregon ORE
South Carolina SCA
Utah UTA
Washington WAS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Argentina South AGS SOUTHERN AMERICA
Chile Central CLC
Chile South CLS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 96 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -11.7 °C 0.8 °C 7.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.5 °C 25.2 °C 31.0 °C
Annual rainfall 482 mm 1,081 mm 2,170 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 8 mm 51 mm 190 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 96 research-grade observations of Deschampsia elongata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 9 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aira aciphylla Franch.
  • Aira aciphylla var. pumila Franch.
  • Aira vaseyana Rydb.
  • Deschampsia aciphylla (Franch.) Speg.
  • Deschampsia aciphylla var. pumila (Franch.) Macloskie
  • Deschampsia ciliata (Vasey) Rydb.
  • Deschampsia elongata var. ciliata Vasey
  • Deschampsia elongata var. tenuis Vasey
  • Deyeuxia schaffneri E.Fourn.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.