Shropshire Wild Flowers

Grass

Ryegrass

Post author By oomhead
Post date June 10, 2024
No Comments on Ryegrass

There two Ryegrasses here. The first one is Perennial Ryegrass which probably everyone is familiar with. It has a flattened flower head with spikelets arranged on either side of the stem. The stem has that wavy shape. Obviously it is a perennial as opposed to the Italian Ryegrass which is annual or biannual. You can see the family resemblance. The Italian Ryegrass is a much more robust grass with wide leaves and thick stems. I spent a long time trying to identify the Italian Ryegrass. There are a few other similar looking grasses.

Grass

Crested Dog’s Tail

This is a delicate, pretty grass. Later when the flowers are fully open I’ll take some more pictures.

Grass

Red Fescue

It’s quite hard to identify some grasses but I think this one is Red Fescue. It is definitely hard to photograph them when the wind is blowing.

Grass

Rough Patch

Here is a picture of a big patch of brambles and nettles with two grasses growing in it. The one in the middle with quite large flower heads is Soft Brome. Along the bottom are the delicate flower heads of Tufted Hair Grass.

Grass

Yorkshire Fog

Like Cock’s Foot this is also a robust grass but unlike Cock’s Foot it’s soft to touch and if you catch the light right you can see the downy hair on the leaves. I always think that Yorkshire Fog is an apt name for it.

Yorkshire Fog – The new flower heads come up rolled tight in the leaves.

Yorkshire Fog – Notice the soft, downy hair on the leaves

Yorkshire Fog – The flower head just starting to open up.

Grass

Cock’s Foot

Everything is green around here. It almost hurts your eyes it’s so green. This is a rough, robust grass called Cock’s Foot. Round here it grows in big patches. The flower heads feel hard and rough and if you run your fingers down the round stem it feels bristly, running up the stem feels smooth.

Grass

Annual Meadow Grass

This grass is an annual, as you’d expect from the name. It is very common and according to my book of grasses it is one of the worlds most successful plants. The stems are short and usually we see the flowers heads down low among the grass leaves. It seems to like well trodden places close to gateways.

Grass

Meadow Foxtail

This is another fairly early grass. It has the distinctive flower head which looks a bit like a foxes tail. Later in the year we will have Timothy which looks similar.

Grass

Sweet Vernal Grass

Earlier I mentioned that this grass eventually shows as kind rust red haze floating over the green grass. This is what it looks like today.

Grass

Sweet Vernal Grass

This is the first grass to come into flower at our place. It’s called sweet because it’s said to smell and taste like vanilla. I can’t say I’ve noticed myself. Vernal because it flowers in the spring. The flower stalks are quite short, maybe 6 to 9 inches tall and they are usually a dark purple colour although sometimes we see green ones. As you can see there are quite a lot in flower right now but eventually there will so many that the field looks like there’s a purple haze hovering over it.