Tussock

tussock |ˈtəsək| noun1 a small area of grass that is thicker or longer than the grass growingaround it.2 (also tussock moth)a woodlandmoth whose adults and brightlycolored caterpillars both bear tuftsof irritant hairs. The caterpillarscan be a pest of trees, damagingfruit and stripping leaves.
DERIVATIVES tussocky adjectiveORIGIN mid 16th cent.: perhaps an alteration of dialect tusk‘tuft,’ of unknown origin.
The word came up when I was doing research into fantasy creatures.