Trichophorum cespitosum(L.) Hartm.

Deergrasstufted bulrush

WFO wfo-0000591767 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Валерия Ковалева
fig. a Валерия Ковалева, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-08 / obs. 204340719
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by abogomazova
fig. b abogomazova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203481118
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Pete Bradshaw
fig. c Pete Bradshaw, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195715055
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Ryan Hodnett
fig. d Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 175471730
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. e Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145940975
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Daniel Linzbauer
fig. f Daniel Linzbauer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145209606
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. g Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172593396
Trichophorum cespitosum, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. h Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139793179

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 77 botanical countries

Regions where Trichophorum cespitosum is native: Algeria, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Greenland, Idaho, Illinois, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oregon, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin AlgeriaAltayAmurBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanPrimoryeSakhalinTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIcelandIrelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandIdahoIllinoisLabradorMaineManitobaMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioOregonPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaTennesseeUtahVermontWashingtonWisconsin Føroyar
Native distribution of Trichophorum cespitosum, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Algeria ALG AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain, Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Flowering 84 in flower of 107 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Trichophorum cespitosum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 84 of 107 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,029 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -23.4 °C -9.7 °C 2.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 13.1 °C 17.4 °C 23.4 °C
Annual rainfall 657 mm 1,479 mm 3,607 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 80 mm 266 mm 478 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,029 research-grade observations of Trichophorum cespitosum 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 32 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.

  • Aplostemon bracteatum (Bigelow) Raf.
  • Baeothryon caespitosum subsp. delicatulum (Fernald) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Baeothryon cespitosum (L.) A.Dietr.
  • Baeothryon cespitosum subsp. germanicum (Palla) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Baeothryon germanicum (Palla) Holub
  • Clavula caespitosa (L.) Dumort.
  • Eleocharis cespitosa (L.) Link
  • Eleocharis cespitosa (L.) Link
  • Eleocharis pallida Shuttlew. ex Steud.
  • Kreczetoviczia cespitosa (L.) Tzvelev
  • Limnochloa caespitosa (L.) Rchb.
  • Scirpus bracteatus Bigelow
  • Scirpus cespitosus L.
  • Scirpus cespitosus subsp. austriacus (Palla) Brodd.
  • Scirpus cespitosus subsp. germanicus (Palla) Brodd.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. austriacus (Palla) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. callosus Bigelow ex Torr.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. comosus Boenn.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. delicatulus Fernald
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. germanicus (Palla) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. nemorosus Roth
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. vulgaris Schrad.
  • Scirpus cespitosus var. vulgaris Rchb.
  • Scirpus germanicus (Palla) W.F.Christ.

and 8 more.

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.