June 1, 2009

Three grasses


With most grasses the flowering takes only a few days. Today it is difficult to find just one flowering panicle, but a week ago everywhere those yellow anthers moved in the wind.


It is Upright Brome (Bromopsis erecta), a grass growing in plenty in calcareous meadows.

















To see Quaking Grass (Briza media) in flower, one also has to wait for another a year. Here a young grasshopper sits between the spikelets.













 

But the Yellow Oatgrass (Trisetum flavescens) is in full bloom. Now its delicate spikelets are rather white than yellow.
















Yesterday evening in this meadow the evening sun did bring out the colors of those tree grasses. Pink-purplish for the Quaking Grass and yellow for the Upright Brome, mixed with the silvery panicles of the Yellow Oatgrass.