In Lisas most recent Native Species of the Week, Lisa focused on our native grasses and grass-like species: There are many great native grass and grass-like species in our local natural areas. Given the open space, and if the ground is not so disturbed, they thrive, inviting other native wild flowers to emerge among them and thereby delighting numerous native pollinators including birds. Slowly, the open field becomes one diverse floral whole! There are also many grass and grass-like species that love shade and would thrive in the woodlands and along the edges of woodlands. I am just beginning to discover these wonderful creatures. I begun to propagate some of these grass species in the hope that people would see their intrinsic value in shaping up our natural areas. But I also noticed that a lot of people are uncomfortable about grass that cannot be mowed regularly and be kept trimmed as if their sole purpose is to behave like a carpet under our feet. Even the ardent naturalists feel as if they have to look over their shoulders and worry about their neighbors and citizens who might object to the unkempt (?) look of wild grass species in their parks. I think we could unlearn our learned esthetics and begin to appreciate the nature as it really is. For this column, I want to focus on grass species in open fields. The most common grass species in our local open fields are Panicum anceps (Beaked Panic Grass), Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem), Sorghastrum nutans (Indian Grass), Tridens flavus (Purpletop Grass), Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass), Andropogon virginicus (Broomsedge). There is also Saccharum alopecuroides (Silver Plume Grass), a showy and tall grass that does well in open grassland. There is another Saccharum giganteum (Sugarcane Plumegrass) which thrives in moist meadows as in Huntley Meadows Park. All these species of grass love the sun and open air and moist to dry soil conditions. Some are especially versatile, like Panicum anceps! Panicum anceps grows in all conditions. As long as there is enough sun, it grows in wetland as well as dry upland. It produces beautiful and numerous grain-like seeds that would feed many birds. All grass species provide food and shelter for nearly all pollinators. I would not, however, recommend using Panicum virgatum (Switch Grass) or Andropogon gerardii (Big Bluestem), although both are native in our region, in ecological restoration purposes. According to Rod Simmons and Charles Smith who are our regions pre-eminent plant ecologists, the natural habitat for both species is restricted to specific areas only. Also unlike other native grasses, they do not allow other species, especially native Forb species, from sharing the habitats. Switch Grass is also known to suck all the moist off from the ground, rendering such sites like RR track a fire hazard. On the other hand, when Little Bluestem is being sown in the field, you could almost immediately find Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint), our most prolific meadow flower, emerging in between Little Bluestem bunches, while Switch Grass stubbornly claim the entire field all to itself! Lisa Bright
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 14:10:26 +0000
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