This grass is aptly named because its seed head resembles a fox’s tail. 

Foxtail grass can be a weed or an ornamental depending on your point of view.  The small version (Setaria glauca) is annoying in the “perfect lawn” but giant foxtail (Setaria magnus) is quite beautiful with its large fuzzy tufts that hold seeds at the base of the hairs.

You don’t have to cultivate foxtail grass.  It grows easily by the side of the road and in waste places.  And without any effort it will grow in your lawn.

Foxtail grass is in the same genus as cultivated millet.  I’ve often watched house sparrows jump up to pull seeds from the plumes of foxtail grass in my backyard.  Oddly, they refuse to eat the millet in mixed birdseed — they literally throw it on the ground. 

Hmmm…  Is that where my foxtail grass came from?

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

16 February 2011

Snow cover is increasingly hard to find in Pittsburgh so this scene is fading fast.

Exposed here by the melting snow is a plant whose name I’ve just learned:  common haircap moss (Polytrichum commune).  

I’ve often seen it in the woods where it covers the ground like a dense carpet of green bottlebrushes.  Though it’s a moss, it’s rather tolerant of dry conditions and does well in a variety of Pennsylvania locations.  I’ve read that in dry weather the green leaves wrap around the stem to protect the plant from moisture loss.

Its scientific name describes the plant well.  Polytrichum means “many hairs.”  Commune probably refers to its ability to form dense colonies.

Where are the hairs?  I know we can’t see them in this photo because they’re so small.  The hairs are on the caps that initially cover the brown spore capsules.  The spore capsules are those brown heads on the naked brown stems poking out of the snow.  So, yes, those brown stems are not a different plant.  They’re the sporophytes of the haircap moss.

At this time of year the haircaps may be missing because they pop off to expose the spores for dispersal.

I’ve never seen any of this because I haven’t looked closely at this moss before.  I didn’t even know that the brown stems are part of the moss’ life cycle. 

Now that I know what to look for, I’m going to find those hairy caps.  I wonder what time of year they’re visible…

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Swamp Thistle is showy when it blooms and has large, dried flower heads when it dies. 

A native biennial in the Cirsium genus, swamp thistle stands five to ten feet tall and produces 1″ long purple flowers on hollow, spineless stems.  When the plant flowers in mid to late summer it’s in its second year, so by the time you find its dried flower heads in winter the plant is dead.

Look for swamp thistle in swamps, wet woods and thickets.  On the ground nearby you’ll see its first year plants overwintering as flat rosettes of prickly leaves.

My Weeds in Winter book says you can easily find these rosettes if you walk barefoot in the vicinity of the flowering plant.

Yow!  Not a good idea!

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

This is a real weed.

Ask anyone who studies native plants and they’ll tell you Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) is a scourge.

Brought here in the 1800’s as a potentially healthy graft for ornamental roses (which didn’t work, by the way) and then promoted as a “living fence” and erosion control, multiflora rose is now federally listed as an invasive species.

It spreads easily, thrives in disturbed soil, and quickly outcompetes native species.  And it’s hard to get rid of!  It grows into a dense shrub up to 15 feet tall that’s covered in very prickly thorns.

The good news is that multiflora rose provides food and cover for wildlife.  Shown here are its fruits, called rose hips, which birds eat in winter.

Rose hips are small but packed with vitamin C.  You can make them into tea but you need up to 1.5 cups of ground rose hips for every one cup of water.  It’s a painful, prickly harvest that takes the fun out of what becomes a sour cup of hot water.

I’ve often wondered why they’re called “hips” so I looked it up.  Hip (pelvis) and hip (fruit) come from different words that now sound alike.  Hip (pelvis) comes from the word hop (jump).  Hip (fruit) comes from the Dutch word “joop” which means fruit.

Look for multiflora rose in winter and you’ll find it almost everywhere.  Look closely inside the bush and you’ll probably find a bird or two.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

I’m sure you’ve seen this copper-colored grass before.  It’s a distinctive plant in winter fields but unremarkable the rest of the year. 

Broom sedge (Adropogon virginicus) is a native, perennial, warm season grass that’s half misnamed.  It’s not a sedge — it’s a bluestem grass — but early settlers did use its winter stems to make brooms. 

The stems stand two to four feet tall in clumps in overgrazed fields and poor soil.  You’ll find them easily in open areas where they remain standing throughout the winter, even in livestock fields, because the mature plant is too tough for cattle and wildlife to eat. 

Broom sedge is one of the first plants to grow in bare earth and can invade an area and maintain its grip because it produces chemicals that suppress the growth of competing species.  Thankfully, it doesn’t do well in fertile soil and is crowded out by “better” plants in less than ten years. 

Look closely at its stems and you’ll see its hairy seeds that disperse in the wind. These seeds are food for small birds and rodents who also find the clumps a convenient shelter.  That’s why you’re likely to see a raptor hunting the fields where broom sedge grows thickly.

So now you know a secret to impress your friends:  When you see broom sedge growing, you know the soil is poor. 

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Here’s a winter weed you really need to know about!

Without its “leaves of three” poison ivy looks very different in winter but its vine, berries and roots can still give you a rash.  Here are some photos and tips on how to identify it.

First and best clue:  The vine looks hairy.  If you see a vine like the one in this picture, don’t touch it, not even with your mitten!

Next clue:  The branches are stiff, a little crooked and mostly horizontal.  Sometimes the plant grows as a low shrub or as stand-alone sticks so the branches do stand up, but they still have that little crooked look.

A thriving patch of poison ivy can completely engulf a tree and when it does its branches reach out quite far.  I call them “devil’s arms” because they look like they’re reaching out to get me.  Look how long they are here!

Third clue:  The clumps you see on those “devil’s arms” are poison ivy berries.  They look like bunches of tiny white grapes, easy to see in the photo below. 

Birds eat the berries throughout the winter so the clumps will slowly disappear, leaving the branches bare.  It’s amazing that birds and other mammals don’t get a rash from poison ivy.  Only we do.

So watch out for a hairy vine!  Don’t touch those white berries!  Don’t dig up the root! 

Even though it’s winter you can still get a rash from this plant. 

For more information on poison ivy, see this blog and its links and comments.

(photos by Marcy Cunkelman)

Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) is one of my favorite winter weeds because it’s easy to identify and has such a cool name.

It’s a shrublike, woody perennial that stands one to four feet high with widely branching stems.  In snow cover its seed pods stand out.  Dark brown, three to eight inches long, and very narrow, they split open lengthwise to reveal seeds with fluffy fiber tufts similar to milkweed.

Shown above are two winter views of its pods.  On the left the unopened pods dangle in pairs from the stem.  They’re as long as your hand, or longer.  On the right the pods have burst open.

Because dogbane and milkweed are related, they share another characteristic as well:  both have milky, poisonous sap.  That’s how dogbane got its unusual names.  Dogbane means “dog poison,” Apocynum means keep “away from dogs.”  Why all the focus on dogs?  I don’t know.  It’s poisonous to people and livestock, too.

In winter dogbane is easily confused — at least by me — with closely related Indian Hemp, so named because its tough fibrous bark was used by Native Americas to make rope and twine.

Look for spreading dogbane in fields and thickets.  If you’re in a marsh or at the shore, the plant may be Indian hemp.

(photos by Marcy Cunkelman)