Saturday, February 9, 2008

Calamagrostis nutkaensis


I walked along this road many, many times, but am almost always discovering something new. Last week these grasses surprised me. I had dismissed them as velvet grass (a nonnative invasive, which is also in the area), but noticed that they were too bunchy and attractive to be that. They were Pacific Reed grass (Calamagrostis nutkaensis).

Then I headed back into the forest.









7 comments:

Unknown said...

These are wonderful photos, a perfect blend of light and shadow and just lovely visuals. Very soothing--especially as we wait for the next snowstorm here!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Those photos of the woods are so wonderful!

chuck b. said...

Wow, that forest...

chuck b. said...

I have a calamagrostis (recently divided into four). No idea which it is. I'll have put up some pictures so you can ID it for me.

Gardener of La Mancha said...

The forest really is something. Thanks for commenting.

Chuck, that's where my IDing powers end. Grasses are tough. (I know about a dozen species, but most of those are far away in Arizona.) This is how I IDed this one: I found an online flora of Big Lagoon and just plugged the ten or so grass names listed into CalFlora or google and matched it by sight. If you know your grass is a CA native, I'd punch "calamogrostis" in CalFlora and go down the list.

lisa said...

so pretty. is that on mom and dads land?

Gardener of La Mancha said...

No, this is the old spruce forest at Big Lagoon.