Trichophorum cespitosum (Linnaeus) Hartman. Deergrass, Deerhair Bulrush. Phen: Jul-Sep. Hab: Cliffs receiving fog/cloud deposition and seepage, mostly at high elevations, over amphibolite, granite, gneiss, or schist, notably at Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, Mount LeConte, Whiteside Mountain, Chimney Rock. Further disjunct in Pickens County, SC and Rabun County, GA on similar, primarily north-facing, cliffs. Dist: A circumboreal tundra and alpine species, south in North America to the mountains of New England and fens in NY, and to n. IL, MN, montane UT, and OR, common in wet tundra and on alpine summits, disjunct (from NY) to about a dozen sites in the Southern Appalachians of w. NC, e. TN, nw. SC (Hill & Horn (1997; Hill 1999), and ne. GA (Jones & Coile 1988). The disjunct southern occurrences are certainly relicts of a more widespread distribution during the Pleistocene. Reported for South Carolina by Hill & Horn (1997) and Hill (1999); vouchered only from Pickens County. It also occurs similarly in Rabun County, GA.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: The species may represent a complex of taxa, variously treated at varietal, subspecific, and specific rank; the best taxonomic resolution remains unclear and it therefore seems best to recognize T. cespitosum broadly at this time. The spelling ‘cesp-‘ in the epithet is not correctable to ‘caesp-‘.

Synonymy: = FNA23, K4, Mi; = Baeothryon cespitosum (L.) A.Dietr.; = Kreczetoviczia cespitosa (L.) Tzvelev; = Scirpus caespitosus – S, S13, orthographic variant; = Scirpus cespitosus L. – C, W; = Trichophorum caespitosum – K1, K3, Tn, orthographic variant; > Scirpus cespitosus L. var. callosus Bigelow – F, G, RAB; > Scirpus cespitosus L. var. cespitosus; > Scirpus cespitosus L. var. delicatulus Fernald – F; > Trichophorum cespitosum (L.) Hartm. ssp. cespitosum – NE, NY; > Trichophorum cespitosum (L.) Hartm. var. callosum (Bigelow) Mohlenbr. – Il

Show in key(s)

Show parent genus

Wetland Indicator Status:

• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL (name change)
• Great Plains: OBL (name change)
• Midwest: OBL (name change)
• Northcentral & Northeast: OBL (name change)

Heliophily: 8