Monday, December 13, 2010

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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27 comments:

  1. Beautiful captures! These grasses are come here too. The grass in top pictures is used in our agricultural sector and is captivated along field sides. Do you have any idea of their names?

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  2. These days I see companies using grass as part of their landscape. They do look soft and beautiful.

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  3. Hi, beautiful pictures.. and interesting information

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  4. We use grasses so much in the States. Ornamental and as a green 'carpet'. It seems odd to me that other countries see grass so differently. It is such a monoculture here that it replaces natural habitats and offers very little ecologically in return. It also changes water patterns and water usage.

    I did learn from you that not all grasses are used for livestock feed. It makes so much sense since the edges are sharp. I just did not think of it that way.

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  5. Aaron~~this is in the provinces, where varied vegetation still exist, but of course in populated areas these are not found anymore.

    Birdy~~what exactly do you mean when you say "captivated along field sides", maybe you mean cultivated? I am not sure of these grasses scientific names,only know the local term which is not use for you.


    One~~yes these grasses can be used as ornamentals if put in a nice location. Everything is beautiful if given proper treatment and perspective. If i have a wide garden i will put lots of grasses with particular emphasis.

    Dejemonos~~ thank you for your appreciation, again. I know you have been coming back here often.

    gardenwalkgardentalk~~we also use many grass species for landscape carpeting in big cities and turf for golf courses. But these grasses are considered weeds because they grow freely in the countrysides, on fallowed lands.

    There are lots of grass species used as feeds and lots more just growing for nature's sake. And these grasses can all be used as landscape accents when properly tended.

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  6. I know more now than I did about grass :-) Nice pictures!

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  7. Since we have 6-8 inches of snow on the ground here today---and since we cannot even see our grass, well---it is a joy to see YOURS...Great pictures of the grass.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  8. The top one, with the big white flowers, and SHARP leaf edges - would be Pampas grass? An invasive alien in South Africa.

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  9. Beautiful photos! The other day I was driving home from Asheville and guiltily admiring all the naturalized miscanthus along the roadways. It's a pretty rampant invasive species here, but the seed heads are so lovely!

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  10. They look beautiful even the sharp one...Nice to see some green plants.. Michelle

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  11. Very nice grass. Thank you for the information, Is always great to learn new things.

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  12. I think the grasses that you have featured here is good for wedding photography. I see ornamental grasses being grown in Wedding Photo Studios just for this purpose. During my time, the photographer used a bundle of dried grass to stimulate the countryside effect, and with yellow filter on his camera lens, the picture turned out to be very romantic!

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  13. wow, grassy weeds are so pretty though!!!

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  14. Linda~~how i wish i also learn something for photography everyday. hehe.

    Betsy~~i wish to show my temperate blogger friends that there are other colors continuously advertising themselves in other parts of the world. I am sure you need some of them to adulterate your minds from the constant views of snow.

    Elephant's eye~~we have a common name here for this grass, though i forgot at the moment. Yes they are also invasive here and very difficult to control.

    Elisa~~i am not familiar with macanthus grass, but i am sure the invasive species really need to be beautiful to continue invasiveness.

    Michelle of Rambling Woods~~i hope i can show an intermission for your minds to at least give some natural colors other than the colors of snow! lol.

    fer~~i am trying to impart at least a little something which could have been unknown yet to some readers, it is my pleasure to know there are a few readers i reached. thank you.

    Autumn Belle~~i am sure your photo is really romantic, i can visualize the effect of that yellow filter although i dont have it yet, haha! Can you imagine a vastness or a sea of these white flowers swaying with gentle winds? That is the scene for vast areas around Mt Pinatubo which erupted in 1990. These colonizer weeds have to make a good part of enriching the soil before these lands can be suited for agriculture again. I should have thought of that earlier for my discussion, haha.

    Wendy~~thank you for visiting and commenting here once-in-a while.

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  15. Like you, Andrea, I have a life-long love of learning. This was an informative post about grasses vs broad leafs. I'd never thought of the colonizer in your second image as a grass, but I love seeing it everywhere in the Philippine countryside. Thanks also for identifying the cocks comb (another visitor agreed with you), and yes, of course I can see it! Even the color almost.

    [About Taal volcano, I've been there many times with many different weathers, but these two photos were the clearest. Our friends like having their photos taken in front of it, so I have plenty of those! :-D I'll be posting many more Batangas photos over the coming weeks.]

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  16. You got it correctly. It's a typing error.

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  17. Interesting post on Grassy Greens. We hardly ever get to see so many varieties except the usual garden grass growing in n around our urban abodes :)

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  18. Hi, means, let us surprise or
    let ourselves surprise..

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  19. What a fabulous post. Your photos are terrific. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  20. I love your photos and commentary. Happy Outdoor Wednesday.

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  21. The last grass you mentioned reminds me of my younger days when I used to pick one up and throw it like a dart on friends' clothes.

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  22. I love the sensual and sculptural qualities of grasses. Your beautiful photos inspire all to try these textured beauties. Great post! Indeed they are blooming. ;>)

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  23. Great post...I love the topic!

    Along with have good ornamental value, grasses are ecologically multi-purposed. When naturalized, they create essential habitats and food sources for birds and small mammals. As we all know, some species are fodder for wild herbivores. They are also extremely useful for soil stabilization, erosion control and wetland restoration.

    However, some species can be invasive and are considered weeds outside their native range. Care should always be taken to verify the native status of grasses before planting. Environmental disasters come in all shapes and sizes!

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  24. I am very much honored with your visit and comments.

    Francisca~~thank you, even if you're a foreigner in this archipelago the fact that you opted to stay here means you are one of us and you are very much loved here. We always love our visitors, historically even the real colonizers! haha.

    Birdy~~i already forgot what i wrote in your site which prompted you that comment. thanks.

    Ever Green Tree~~our property and my refuge from the urban jungle is in the province, where air is still clean, biodiversity still thriving well and the culture of protecting each other, human, animals or plants, still strong. So our grasses are there too.

    Dejemonos~~thanks for your constant visit.

    Mary~~you are very kind with your comments, i hope you drop by again.

    Donnie~~it's your first time here too, Happy Holidays.

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  25. Solitude Rising~~i am glad i found your blog, as i seem to get my dreams through yours, somehow, haha! Yes when we were kids we also do that to our playmates and we use that grass, exactly!

    Carol~~thank you very much for appreciating my photos. I hope i am improving with my shots.

    Mac from Australia~~thanks for your visit, i invite you to come again, as your comments inspire me to post further.

    Claudio Vasquez~~i am much honored with your visits and kind comments. Your additional comments are very correct and hopefully many more will appreciate them with their role in biodiversity, ecology, environment and food chain. thank you so much.

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  26. Grasses have such amazing winter structure and movement - yours are quite nice.

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Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

However, Anonymous comments and personal back links give me problems, so i don't publish them. Anonymous + back links = SPAM = DELETE

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