Yeah, yeah, I don't do grasses. At least that's what I always say. But I deal with this one every fall, so I decided to try to actually identify it. I've always just called it "Witch Grass," and that is sort of fine. As OK as common names get. It's actual common name is probably "Fall Witch Grass." And remember that common names are fairly useless because they vary regionally, and have duplicates. Scientific names are much better.
I say "probably" Fall Witch Grass because I have not put the seeds or leaf sheaths under my microscope (which needs to be released from a prison of stacked stuff) yet. Maybe. Maybe I don't care enough. Maybe I do. We'll see.
I can never decide if I love or hate this stuff. It's beautiful every fall, turning the yard a soft fuzzy purple.
And in the early morning, if there is dew and slanted sunlight, everything is silver and white.
No easy ID with just that. There are at least two choices. But I'm going with Digitaria cognata. The clumps of both are very similar, although the stalks are so thin you can't tell much from this picture.
Even if you haven't noticed the clumps, you've probably encountered the stalks. They turn brown and easily break off above the sheath on the stem and blow around like eastern tumbleweeds collecting in corners of your porch, or hitchhiking into the house on your sneakers. This is the part I hate. It's impossible to escape the dang things! And they collect in numbers serious enough to make large "hairballs."
For now, my ID is mostly based on examining the flowering stalks. There are only one or two of the seeds per branch. The other serious choice has more.
If I put the microscope on it, I'll amend or confirm this.
In other news, I worked really hard today to get a few things done. I'm seriously behind on a couple of things that have actual deadlines.
 | See Purple and Silver |
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