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Bamboos Red in Tooth and Claw
The common perception of bamboo has always been somewhat pacifistic, with images of cute pandas intermixed with the culms or images of the beautiful bamboo forests in temperate Asia. But research from the Amazon rainforest seems to show another aspect of this much-loved group of grasses. In the SouthWest Amazon rainforest, a vast area of…
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iNatting on iNaturalist: The Pluses and Minuses
I finally decided to try out iNaturalist in earnest a week or so back, after I had created an account three years ago. If I remember correctly, I had used it before to see whether specific grasses were going to be present during one of our trips. iNaturalist of course is a website (and phone…
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A Parking Lot’s Cenchrus Celebration
Cenchrus (Pennisetum) varieties are a mainstay of the ornamental grass industry. Even in areas here in Florida where the community tries to stick to native ornamental grasses like Eragrostis spp, Trypsacum spp, and Muhlenbergia spp, I have seen Cenchrus spp used liberally in order to add season-long color. Recently, I came upon a parking lot…
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Cogon Grass in Colorado: Proof that Winter-Hardy and Aggressive Reversions are Possible
Imperata cylindrica (Cogon grass) in the USA exists in two divergent forms. The first is the wild type form, which is considered cold-intolerant, fairly large, very aggressive, and has uniformly green leaves. In contrast, an ornamental variety that is very cold-tolerant has reddish-green leaves and is much shorter than the wild form. It is also…
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Living the High Life: Dwarf Bamboo and Other Montane Grasses in the Philippines
The warm and humid tropical regions of Southeast Asia has extensive tracts of forests, although it has not always been this way. But hike up into the mountains and amazing sights will greet the traveler, because once he or she moves up past the tree line, the world opens up as montane grasslands and their…
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Dr. Seuss’ Grickle Grass: A Pernicious Mindset and a Paean to the Tenacity of the Poaceae
I’ve been watching and rewatching the movie adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and enjoying myself. It’s a fairly extreme pro-environment film, with the usual greedy businessman as the very obvious villain. There is also a questionable “co-hero” in the story who ends up destroying an environment and making it a “barren wasteland” after cutting…
Sejarah Poaceae (Volume 2)
The Story of Grasses – Grasslands and Grassy Open Ecosystems