tussock(n = noun.group) tuft - a bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass;
is a kind of bunch, clump, cluster, clustering
has particulars: wisp, hexenbesen, staghead, witch broom, witches' broom, coma
1. A tuft, as of grass, twigs, hair, or the like; especially, a dense tuft or bunch of grass or sedge. [1913 Webster]
"Such laying of the hair in tussocks and tufts." [1913 Webster]
2. Same as
3. A caterpillar of any one of numerous species of bombycid moths. The body of these caterpillars is covered with hairs which form long tufts or brushes. Some species are very injurious to shade and fruit trees. Called also
tussock, n.
1 a clump of grass etc.
2 (in full tussock moth) any moth of the genus Orgyia etc., with tufted larvae.
Idiom:
tussock grass grass growing in tussocks, esp. Poa flabellata from Patagonia etc.
Derivative:
tussocky adj.
Etymology:
16th c.: perh. alt. f. dial. tusk tuft
plumed tussock, tussock bellflower, tussock caterpillar, tussock moth