Grass Family:-

Grasses" differ from Sedges in having their usually round and never 3-angled stems almost always hollow, except at the swollen leaf-junctions, and their flowers arranged in opposite rows in spikelets, each flower with 2 small bracts. Their leaves are alternate in two rows, usually long, narrow, untoothed, keeled or flat, with parellel veins and sheathing the stem, the lower sheaths usually split on the side opposite the leaf. At the leaf-junction is very often a tiny colour-less flap- or strap-like ligule, a useful diagnostic character best seen by pulling the leaf away from the stem.

The actual flowers are minute, usually with 3 stamens and 2 feathery styles, but not petals or sepals; each flower is enclosed within 2 scale-like bracts (pales) arranged one or more together in a spikelet, at the base of which are 2 more scale-like bracts (glumes). The spikelets (stalked or not) often bear bristles (awns) and are arranged in terminal flower-heads, which vary from small dense cylinders to widely branched sprays. The branched heads may look very different when their branches are spreading in flower, and when they are closed and cylindrical in bud or in fruit. The fruits, not important for identification, are small dry nutlets. " from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978

Grass Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Wild Flower Habitat Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Flote-Grass

(Floating Manna Grass, Floating Sweet Grass, Flutendes Schwadengras)

Glyceria fluitans

(Festuca fluitans, Panicularia fluitans)

June-August

A perennial herb of marshes, swamps and muddy pond margins, and forming floating rafts in shallow water by ditches, rivers, ponds and lakes; tolerant of high levels of disturbance and nutrient-enrichment. 0?720 m (Knock Fell, Westmorland).

Form from Buckinghamshire. Photo by BritishFlora

Giant Fescue

(Giant Brome?????, Green Giant Fescue, Riesen-Schwingelgras)

Festuca gigantea

(Schedonorus gigantea, Bromus giganteus, Lolium giganteum)

July-August

A tufted perennial herb of moist woodland on neutral to base-rich soils, often associated with Brachypodium sylvaticum and Bromopsis ramosa. It is particularly frequent beside streams, along rides, in disturbed areas in clearings and on woodland margins, and as a colonist of secondary woodland. It is dispersed by its fruits, which adhere to fur and clothing. 0-370 m (near Nenthead, Cumberland).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Giant Quaking-Grass (Syn. Great Quaking Grass, Pain-de-coucou, Pearl Grass)

Briza maxima

May-July

An annual, naturalised or occurring casually on dry, bare banks and field margins, in cultivated ground including gardens, bulb-fields, on sand dunes, sea-cliffs, rubbish tips, waste ground and wall-tops, and in pavement cracks. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Glaucous Hair-Grass

(Blaugrunes Schillergras, Coolio Grass, Crested Hair-Grass)

Koeleria glauca

(Koeleria macrantha ssp. glauca)

June-July

A perennial herb of grasslands on infertile, mainly calcareous substrates; also around rock outcrops, screes, quarry heaps and old lead workings. In many areas it is most frequent in dry, sandy, base-rich grassland on cliff-tops and dunes. Generally lowland, but reaching at least 680 m on Mt Brandon (S. Kerry).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Grandmother's Hair

(Various-leaved Fescue

Festuca heterophylla

(Festuca rubra var. heterophyll)

June-July

A rather tall, densely tufted perennial herb, widely naturalised in woods, spinneys and wood-borders on light soils. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Great Brome

Bromus diandrus

(Anisandra diandra)

May-July

An annual of arable fields, waste ground and roadsides, and in open grassland and heathland on sandy soils. It is sometimes well-established on dunes. A. diandra is a grain, bird-seed and wool alien. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Great Water Grass

(Reed Meadow Grass, Reed Sweet Grass, Wasser-Schwadengras)

(Same as Reed Meadow Grass on Page 3)

Glyceria maxima

(Glyceria aquatica, Molinia maxima, Panicularia aquatica, Poa aquatica)

June-August

A rhizomatous perennial herb growing in ditches, canals, lakes and ponds, either rooted on the bank or in the water, and often forming floating rafts; also in seasonally-flooded grasslands. It was formerly cultivated as a fodder crop, and is much planted in ponds. Generally lowland, but reaching 600 m at Sprinkling Tarn (Cumberland).

Flower from Buckinghamshire. Photo by BritishFlora

Flowers

Foliage from Buckinghamshire. Photo by BritishFlora

Form from Buckinghamshire. Photo by BritishFlora

Hairy Brome

(Wald-Trespe, Wild Oats)

Bromus ramosus

(Bromopsis ramosa, Bromus asper, Bromus benekenii, Zerna ramosa)

June-August

A tufted perennial herb of shaded habitats on moist, moderately base-rich soils, including woodlands and hedgerows; it occasionally persists on sites of former woodland. Some bare soil is necessary for successful establishment from seed. Almost entirely lowland, but reaching 420 m at Garrigill (Cumberland).

Flower

Flowers from Rochester in Kent

Foliage from Rochester

Form from Rochester

Heath Grass

(Common Heath Grass, Dreizahn, Heather Grass, Mountain Heath Grass)

Sieglingia decumbens

(Danthonia decumbens, Festuca decumbens)

July-August

A densely tufted perennial herb of pastures, heathy grassland and moorland, favouring mildly acidic soils. It is also found in calcareous swards, including chalk and limestone grassland, but is then rooted into more acidic, superficial or leached horizons. It is frequent too in damp montane grassland. It spreads by seed and seems to have a persistent seed bank. 0-595 m (Tal-y-fan, Caerns.) and possibly at 1040 m on Macgillycuddy`s Reeks (S. Kerry).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form from North Yorkshire

Italian Rye-Grass

(Annual Ryegrass, Azevem, Ballico Italiano, Forage or cover-crop, Italiaanse Raaigras, Italienisches Raygras, Ivraie multiflore, Loietto Italiano, Ray d'Italie, Ray-Grass d'Italie, Raygras Italiano, Vielblutiges Lolchgras, Welsches Weidelgras, Westerwold Ryegrass, Westerwoldisches Weidelgras)

Lolium multiflorum

(Lolium gaudinii, Lolium italicum, Lolium perenne subsp. multiflo)

May onwards

An annual or short-lived perennial found in leys, on field margins, in gateways, along farm tracks, on roadsides and rough ground. It often persists for a few years, but rarely becomes naturalised. Generally lowland, but reaching 410 m above Garrigill (Cumberland).

Flower

Flowers from North Yorkshire

Foliage from North Yorkshire

Form from North Yorkshire

Lesser Quaking-Grass

(Little Quaking Grass, Petite amourette, Petite brize)

Briza minor

(Briza gracilis, Briza minima)

June-September

An annual mainly found on light, base-poor soils in arable habitats, including bulb-fields. It is also found, as a casual, by roadsides, on walls and, rarely, on waste land or rubbish tips. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Meadow Fescue

(Wiesengras, Wiesenschwingel)

Festuca pratensis

(Schedonorus pratensis)

June-August

A short-lived perennial found in a wide range of neutral grasslands, usually on fertile soils, including pastures, hay- and water-meadows. It is often sown for fodder and has become naturalised on roadsides, railway banks and waste ground.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Mountain Meadow-Grass

(Blaugrunes Rispengras, Glaucantha Bluegrass, Glaucous Bluegrass, Glaucous Meadow Grass, Grass Blue Hills, Upland Bluegrass)

Poa balfourii

(Poa glauca, Poa caesia, Poa glauca var. glaucanthos, Poa glaucanthos)

July-August

A tufted perennial herb of damp mountain rock faces, open ledges, screes and rocky slopes on calcareous substrates, often with Poa alpina. It is also known as a casual by a disused railway in Cardiganshire. From 305 m on Trotternish, Skye (N. Ebudes) to 1110 m on Lochnagar (S. Aberdeen).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Mountain Melik

(Nickendes Pergras, Nodding Melick, Nodding Pearl)

Melica nutans

May-July

A rhizomatous, perennial grass of basic soil over limestone and other base-rich rocks, occurring in shady places in deciduous woodland, on woodland margins, in the grikes of limestone pavement and on rock ledges. Lowland to 820 m in Glen Isla (Angus).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage on 10 May

Form on 10 May

Narrow-leaved Meadow Grass

(Fowl Bluegrass, Fowl Meadow Grass, Paturin des marais, Paturin tardif, Poa de los Pantanos, Poa-paludosa, Sumpf-Rispengras, Sumpfrispengras, Swamp Meadow Grass)

Poa palustris

(Poa fertilis, Poa serotina, Poa triflora)

June-July

A short-lived tufted perennial growing in marshes, fens, ditches, Salix carr and at the edges of rivers, canals, lakes and ponds; occasionally around docks, by railways and on waste ground. Generally lowland, but upper altitudinal limit unknown. Used for soil stabilization and waterfowl feed.

Flower

Flowers from North Yorkshire

Foliage from North Yorkshire

Form from North Yorkshire

Perennial Rye-Grass

(Ausdauerndes Lolchgras, Deutches Weidelgras, Darnell, Rye Grass)

Lolium perenne

June-August

This is predominantly a species of improved lowland pasture, leys, and hay meadows, but is found widely in other habitats, including downland, rush-pasture, inundated grasslands, amenity grassland and road verges; also in open ruderal habitats. It favours fertile, heavy, neutral soils, but is also found on those which are mildly acidic or basic. 0-570 m (Alston Moor, Cumberland).

Flower from Temple Marsh

Flowers from Temple Marsh

Flower from Eccles

Form from Borstal in Kent

From Sarah Ravens Kitchen & Garden:-

Wildflowers - Chalk and sand, freely-drained soil mix

A wonderfully varied self-sowing wild flower mix for thin, poor, chalky or sandy soils to give your garden or field flowers right through the year and food for the birds and bees.

To cover an area of 3m2
General Height: 60cm.
Sow: April- June

Spring into Summer Flowering

• Cowslip
March – May

• Crosswort
April - June

• Common Birdsfoot Trefoil
May – July

• Kidney Vetch
May – July

• Lady’s Bedstraw Late May – August

• Red Clover
May – October

• Yellow Rattle
May – July

• Meadow Buttercup May – July

• Wild Mignonette May – August

Summer into Autumn Flowering

• Field Scabious June – September

• Hedge Bedstraw June – August

• Viper’s Bugloss June – September

• Meadow Cranesbill June – September

• Greater Knapweed June – August

• Salad Burnet June – September

• Common Knapweed June – September

• Wild Carrot
June – September

• Wild Marjoram July – September

From Sarah Ravens Kitchen & Garden:-

Wildflowers - Clay and rich loam soil mix

There are two main things I want from my wildflower meadow – to look beautiful for months not weeks, with flowers coming out and going over in succession AND to grow pollen-rich, insect friendly plants from EARLY in the year to LATE. I want my patch to be a regular and reliable food source for the birds and the bees. That’s what you’ll get with this beautiful selection of my favourite easy and reliable perennial wild flowers.

To cover an area of 3m2

General Height: 60cm.

Sow: April- June

Spring into Summer Flowering

• Cowslip March – May

• Common Birdsfoot Trefoil May – July

• Lady’s Bedstraw Late May – August

• Rough Hawksbit May – July

• Red Clover May – October

• Oxeye Daisy May – July

• Yellow Rattle May – July

• Meadow Buttercup May – July

•

Summer into Autumn Flowering

• Self Heal June – September

• Sorrel June – September

• Tufted Vetch June – September

• Common Knapweed June – September

• Common Toadflax July – October

• Musk Mallow July – October

• Ragged Robin July – September

'Sort out your soil' - A practical guide to Green Manures, and Frequently Asked Questions from the Receptionist Myrtle of Cotswold Grass Seeds.