Koeleria glauca

Koeleria glauca, commonly called blue hair grass, is a tufted perennial bunchgrass in the Poaceae family forming compact basal clumps of distinctly bluish-grey, narrow, in-rolled leaves 15-30 cm tall. From May to July the plant sends up slender flowering culms reaching 35-55 cm bearing dense, cylindrical, silvery-green spike-like panicles that turn straw-coloured at maturity. The species is native to sandy habitats of central and eastern Europe, with notable populations in coastal dunes of Jutland and inland sand dunes of the Rhine Valley, where it tolerates drought, lime, and impoverished soils. Its glaucous foliage results from a waxy cuticle that reduces water loss in xeric conditions. Koeleria glauca is grown ornamentally for its blue-grey colour and is valued in xeriscape and rock-garden plantings, but it is not used medicinally and produces no documented bioactive compounds of therapeutic interest.