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Have rice cooker…will travel
I chanced upon a youtube video about some guy who married his rice cooker. This was of course a stunt that was pulled in order to attract eyeballs, but it did remind me how important these appliances are to many people. It is of course possible to cook rice without rice cookers, but the quality…
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Grass: “Let me help you there, Forest…”
The concept of using biotic resistance by natives to prevent invasives from making inroads into natural areas is nothing new. One of the earliest examples of this is the hypothesis that diversity in either species or function is a way for natural communities to resist encroachment by invasive species. This so-called Elton Hypothesis postulates that…
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Beach Bum: Getting Salty with Bermuda Grass
I was staying at a beachside hotel in southwestern Florida when I noticed a high sprawling grassy area that crept up from the beach and threatened to move into the parking lot. Curious about what type of grass could grow in such a salty environment, I came closer, expecting it to be something like Paspalum…
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Chhorii: Horror in the Canes
Forests have traditionally been the go-to location when horror movies want to add suspense, but there has been a rise in the use of grass fields as the scene of horror movies, and this trend has not been confined to Hollywood. Most American films use maize fields as the usual staple, but Stephen King’s venue…
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An irresistible force meets an immovable object?
I’ve been doing a long running observation on a stand of Imperata cylindrica (Cogon grass) in Florida since 2021, with the cogon grass rapidly overwhelming its competitors as it spread laterally along a roadside. For a history of this series of observations: April 2021Rapid expansion of an invasive grass as viewed using Google StreetView December…
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Heteropogon contortus: Black spear or drill bit?
Updated: Corrected info about common name in Australia, as well as about sheep in that country. Thanks to a reader. When I was visiting Cape Coral, FL, USA last year, I happened upon a very distinctive grass species that had an inflorescence that looked like drill points. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with…
Sejarah Poaceae (Volume 2)
The Story of Grasses – Grasslands and Grassy Open Ecosystems