Woodland Grasses
What are they?
This page brings together a small but interesting group of mostly dainty grasses that are typically found in woodland and shady places, often on tracks and trails.
Where are they found?
These are typically plants of woodland but may also be found in other shady places and occasionally in more open habitats, especially where they persist after woodland has been cleared.
Identification
As with most grasses, careful attention should be paid to all parts, but particularly to the basal part of the leaf, the shape and structure of the flowerhead and the presence or absence of hairs on all parts.
Black Spear-grass Piptochaetium avenaceum
Dry soils in clearings in wooded areas, such as along railroad tracks and powerline cuts. Flowers late May to July. A distinctive grass with its solitary florets (which turn black as the seed ripens) and very long awns.
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Silky Oat-grass Danthonia sericea
A common grass along woodland trails and other shady openings in forested and lightly wooded areas. Flowers May to late June. Usually found growing in loose, open colonies of plants. Flowerheads have obvious silky hairs on them.
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Spiked Oat-grass Danthonia spicata
A common grass on woodland trails and other shady openings in forested and lightly wooded areas. Flowers May to July. Often found growing in extensive, open colonies of plants. Flowerheads rather simple, carried horizontally at the end of long side arms.
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White Cut-grass Leersia virginica
(Whitegrass) A common grass of wet, shady swamps but also frequently found on roadsides and trails in wooded areas. Flowers July to September. A low-growing species which trails untidely across the ground.
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Slender Spike-grass Chasmanthium laxum
A very common grass along woodland trails and other shady openings in forested areas. Flowers July to September. This species grows rather loosely and openly on the woodland floor, its long flowering stems arching over gracefully. Unfortunately, its flower stems appear to be much favored by ticks waiting to hitch a ride on a passing mammal!
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Japanese Stilt-grass Microstegium vimineum
A highly invasive Asian species which was misguidedly introduced into Tennessee around 1919 and now covers large areas of shady woodland in the south-eastern states. It is a relative newcomer to Cape May County but is likely to become a major conservation issue. Currently known from several sites in Belleplain. Flowers September to October. A low-growing species with bamboo-like leaves which have a distinctive, broad silver stripe down the middle. Trailing stems send out stiff shoots which push into the ground and root - the 'stilts' of the English name.
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Wavy Hair-grass Deschampsia flexuosa
Local, but often forms quite large colonies of tussocks in open woodland, usually on paths and trails on dry, acid soils. Flowers May to June. A tussock-forming species with very fine, hair-like leaves. Flowers are carried on slender stems which blow in the breeze and give the species its English name. They are often pinkish-tinged.
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Upland Bent Agrostis perennans
A common grass of open places in woodland, especially along sandy trails. Flowers July to September. Forms open clumps of light, whispy flower heads.
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Prairie Wedgescale Sphenopholis obtusata
(Early Bunch-grass) An uncommon grass of woodland edge, hedgerows and occasionally wetland edge. Flowers June to July. A small and easily overlooked species, with a narrow flower spike and broadly 'winged' florets.
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