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Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the Poaceae family. 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.^[1][2][3]

Many species have long roots that may reach 2 meters (6.6 ft) 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.

Tussock-bunch grasslands, dormant season, in the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic

Bunch-tussock grasses in the Konza tallgrass prairie

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.^[4]

Genera

Some examples of genera:

• Brachypodium


• Calamagrostis


• Chionochloa


• Deschampsia


• Festuca


• 
  Heteropogon – (tropical climates)


• Leymus


• Melica


• Muhlenbergia


• Nassella


• Stipa

Species

Australia

Larvae of the Geitoneura klugii feed on grasses like slender tussock grass, kangaroo grass, and false brome.

• Button grass — (Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus)


• Common tussock-grass — (Poa labillardierei)


• Grey tussock-grass — (Poa sieberiana)


• Red anther wallaby grass — (Joycea pallida)


• 
  Triodia, formerly Plectrachne
  

New Zealand

• Red tussock — (Chionochloa rubra)

Other New Zealand tussock grass:

• Chionochloa australis


• C. flavescens


• Festuca novaezelandiae


• Poa caespitosa


• P. colensoi


• P. foliosa

North America

Bunch grasses:^[5]

• Purple three-awn — (Aristida purpurea)


• Blue grama — (Bouteloua gracilis)


• 
  Leafy reedgrass — (Calamagrostis foliosa) - (endemic to California)


• Pacific reedgrass — (Calamagrostis nutkaensis)
  


• Purple reedgrass — (Calamagrostis purpurascens)


• California oatgrass (Danthonia californica)


• Hare's-tail cottongrass — (Eriophorum vaginatum)


• California fescue — (Festuca californica)


• Idaho fescue — (Festuca idahoensis)


• Red fescue — (Festuca rubra)


• Junegrass — (Koeleria macrantha)


• Giant wildrye — (Leymus condensatus)


• California melic — (Melica californica)


• Smallflower melic — (Melica imperfecta)


• Deer grass — (Muhlenbergia rigens)


• Foothill needlegrass — (Nassella lepida)


• 
  Purple needlegrass — (Nassella pulchra) - (The state grass of California)


• Pine bluegrass — (Poa secunda)


• Prairie dropseed — (Sporobolus heterolepis)


• Salt couch grass — (Sporobolus virginicus)


• Eastern gamagrass — (Tripsacum dactyloides)

South America

• 
  Tufted hair-grass — (Deschampsia cespitosa) - (up through North America)


• 
  Serrated tussock — (Nassella trichotoma) - (common pasture weed in Australia)


• 
  Tussac grass — (Poa flabellata)
  
  • (Synonyms: Parodiochloa flabellata, Festuca flabellata, Dactylis caespitosa)
  
  

Africa

• 
  Perennial tussock grass — (Heteropogon contortus) - (to Asia, Australasia, Oceania)

Europe

• Rope grass — (Ampelodesmos mauritanicus)


• 
  Purple moor grass — (Molinia caerulea) - (to west Asia and north Africa)

See also

• List of Poaceae genera


• Tussock (disambiguation)


• Tussock grassland

Non-Poaceae tussocks

• 
  Fibrous tussock-sedge (Carex appropinquata)


• 
  Rough saw-sedge (tussock) (Gahnia aspera)


• 
  Tussock sedge (Carex stricta)

References

External links

• 
  California Native Grasslands Association: Bunchgrass species & habitats: preservation & restoration


• http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/plants/grass-key