False Oat-grass

On the side of a track grows this big grass that grows higher than the others.





False Oat-grass (Arrhenaterum elatius) grows nearly everywhere and here and there it can still be found flowering.





Above an ear in full bloom. The spikelets on thin stalks grow on right angles off the central axis, the culm, and every spikelet contains several flowers. The little wine-red things, like flags pending in the wind, are stamina. Because False Oat-grass is so big it is a bit less difficult than with other grasses to see the flowers in detail.





Here a spikelet seen from front. It holds several florets. In the foreground a monoecious flower. You can see a pair of feather-like stigma, one to the left and one to the right. From the center of the floret also two stamina protrude, thin stalks that carry those flag-like reddish anthers. Behind this floret another flower is hidden, a male one, from which you see mainly the two stamina. Above those flowers, pointing upwards, there is one of the bracts, glumes, that envelop the spikelet. Also every individual floret is surrounded by two scales, lemma and palea. The largest of the two, here visible pointing downwards with a long spike, is the lemma of the dioicious (male) flower.






Grasses are complicated...

Dog Rose

Wall-like growth, nearly impossible to get through, separates a small meadow and the surrounding woods. There are many brambles but also other bushes, some of them in flower. The big white umbels are of an Elder (Sambucus nigra) and the little pink spots are roses, to be more precise, Dog Roses (Rosa canina).




There are several species of wild roses in Dordogne and the Dog Roses is probably the most common of them. It flowres smell, they smell even very good, as it should be for a rose. The leaves, when you rub them between your fingers, do not have much smell.





Dog Roses flower in May and June with big simple flowers, pink or white (or both).





The petals are slightly indented and the sepals have long fringes. The leaves end with a point. Les feuilles sont pointues, smooth, or as here, just a bit downy.






Sometimes they stay on the plant until after the first frost.





The rosehips that grow during summer sometimes stay on the branches until the end of winter. At least, when they are not eaten by a bird or a fox.





It is a rose with long shoots that can get several metres long. The thorns are big and curved.





All year round wild roses are beautiful!