Let's Think of Grass

Someone reminded me the difference between a grass and a broadleaf! I somehow forgot that difference because in my mind i equated grass with weeds. We only have one local term for both grass and weeds "damo". In local term anything not planted or used as food is "damo". However, weeds are a big group, which include both monocots and dicots. But of course grasses are all monocots, and broadleaves are dicots. Monocots are those with parallel venations on the leaves, while dicots have netted venations. So our local term must have dileneated grass from weed.

Now i recall a simple tutorial on plants for our accountant friend, who is now a president of a big company. We have long discussions and examples to differentiate monocots from dicots, which include all the big ones like bamboo versus mango. You don't assume an accountant to remember monocots and dicots from her Biology class in high school, especially when that has been a few decades ago.

Now let's go back to grasses! I have spotted a few grass flowers lately, so thought of putting them together here. These are all grass weeds. Later, i will be putting the broadleaf weeds.

This is a typical grass, a weed growing on vacant lands as colonizers. They grow at least 2 meters high, but with white beautiful flower spikes. In the first photo, it is growing near a cemented roadside.

They are not very palatable as feeds, maybe because of sharp leaf edges.

The four photos above represent one grass. They are at least 2 ft in height. Animals like cattle, horses and goats also feed on them.



The 2 photos above are the same grass, the 2nd just a close-up of the flowers. They also grow tall like the 1st grass, but this one is shorter and have more colorful flowers. However, they have easily bending stalks. 

 

This is the same flower against the grey cloudy sky.

 The one above have very small flowers that my lens cannot give justice to its details.

This one is maybe the most hated, because they cling to clothes for dispersal. Not only that,

those clinging parts are so sharp and hard that they literally harm and scratch the skin. 

I would like to link this post to  Blooming Friday of Katarina's Roses and Stuff. That is just to provide my temperate country bloggers a BIG Difference, to titillate them that we in this part of the world don't have the Four Seasons. We only have a perennial Summer, with dry and wet months. And our vegetation is also perennially green with lots of loud colors, unless our dry season is so long that kills many plants.

Since these photos are really out in the wilderness and out of the confines of domestic gardens, maybe it is okay to post this in  Outdoor Wednesday courtesy of A Southern Daydreamer.Please visit other participants there.

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