Latent Potential #4
Bozeman, Montana
2013
Besides their simplistic minimalist shapes, these grasses whose name I do not know are of interest to me because they are tall (probably averaging 18″), slender and flexible yet stand quite upright even with the mass of the seed head perched at the end. Pretty amazing.
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Larry, these are sedges (Carex sp.), which are graminoids (“grass-like” plants), but in a whole different plant family from true grasses. I love sedges, they are so diverse, with so many different species in a wide variety of (usually moist and meadowy) habitats, and so challenging to identify to species. Your photos in this series remind me of the many plant specimens I’ve glued onto herbarium sheets. Sedges are wonderful plants, yet not widely recognized and appreciated by non-botanists.
Thanks for the information on the plant’s identity Tim. I was hoping for a knowledgeable viewer to chime in. I tried looking some of these plants up in the books we have, but they’re not geared towards grasses (or grass-like plants) and I can’t figure out how they’re organized. It’s not like a flower book where they are usually grouped by color. You are right about the moist and meadowy habitat in this case as these grow along the dams on the ponds at our house. Just by coincidence there was a copy of Garden Design magazine sitting on the counter in our house for some reason the other day that had a photo of what I would have sworn was the same (or very similar) plant right on the cover. But the magazine identified it as Small Cape Rush (Chondropetalum tectorum). You are right, the sedges are wonderful plants. I love their elegant simplicity.