Three weeks ago I was visiting the tiny grass called Common Dropseed. Today I’m looking at its big brother the Long-leaved or Tall Dropseed,
Sporobolus asper. Many people look at a field of grass and fail to see the different species that make up the stand. Each species differs in its palatability to different animal species, in its growth habits and in its method of producing seed.
Tall Dropseed grows about four feet tall and sometimes forms patches dense enough to exclude other species. The most noticeable characteristic of this grass is the apparent thickened stem at the top of the plant created by rolled leaves. Once you get this visual image in mind, you can see the Tall Dropseed start to visually pop out of the grass stand.
The flowers and seeds are found inside this rolled leaf sheath. The cycle of wetting and drying causes the leaf to gradually open to release the seeds. The speed of this process varies among plants and sometimes takes several months before the seeds are released. It takes some work to open the rolled leaves so birds usually leave these seeds alone when other food is available. It’s not uncommon in late winter to find where a bird has worked to open a rolled leaf to get at the seeds inside.
The lower leaves and the leaves on non-flowering plants form thin wispy curls. These leaves are what give away the Tall Dropseed’s presence in early summer. The thin leaves of the young plant form what appears to be an almost insubstantial green mist among the other tall grasses.
It was hard to tell from the weather forecast yesterday morning just what kind of day would unfold. I was hoping to collect some seed, but the plants need to be dry for that kind of activity. A heavy frost was still firmly in place at 9:00 am, so I knew it would probably be early afternoon before things dried off enough for seed harvest. The problem was a prediction of rain showers moving through in the afternoon. By mid-afternoon, things were bright, sunny and dry. The only problem was a series of small cloud clusters that brought with them a sprinkling of rain.
My primary objective was to collect some seed from the Tall Dropseed, Sporobolus asper. It would be a difficult plant to locate if it wasn’t for the mass of curly leaves that a clump of Tall Dropseed will produce.
It takes a bit of time to harvest the Tall Dropseed seed. The flower stalk and resulting seeds are hidden within a sheath near the top of the stalk. This means that you have to open the sheath to get to the seed. I’ve tried snapping the grass stem to harvest the seeds sheath and all, but the stem doesn’t want to break easily. It’s easier and faster to just unroll the sheath and strip the seeds into a collecting bucket.
I only got hit by one small shower and that one favored me with a rainbow as it passed. I was amazed that clouds so small could even produce rain, let alone enough to produce a rainbow.
The afternoon was quite peaceful and free of the typical noises of human activities. At one point, crows began to pass high overhead. It took about two minutes for the end of the string to go past.
The crows evidently had a need to get somewhere and soon disappeared out of sight. Their passing was completely silent. Not like the locals whose mouths seem to be activated by the flapping of their wings.
The departure of the crows left me with just my collection of seeds and some beautiful weather. I would have to say it was a good day.
