Cynosurus cristatus
Encyclopedia
Introduction
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
, but also found in the wild typically in species rich grassland. It is a perennial short-lived plant characterised by a seed head that is flat on one side. It thrives in a variety of soil types but avoids the acid and calcerous extremes of the pH spectrum. It prefers well drained soils.,
It is also known as Crételle (French) and Wiesen kammgras (German, meaning meadows comb grass). The Latin Cynosurus cristatus means 'addled crested or tufted'.
Locations
Most parts of Europe, South West Asia, introduced into North America, Australia and New Zealand, from near sea level up to about 2000 feet, in all soil types.Identification
It is perennial with a slighted tufted habit, a slender stem, 15 to 45 cm high, leafy at the base and thus suitable for grazing by sheep.The spikelets are fertile or sterile, mixed within the same cluster. They are oblong or wedge shaped, 3–6 mm long, with 2 to 5 flowers.
The ligule
Ligule
A ligule — is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses and sedges or a strap-shaped corolla, such as that of a ray floret in plants in the daisy family....
is blunt.
Leaves are pointed at the tip, flat (not boat-shaped). The lower side of the leaf is smooth, glossy and keeled. Other grasses with glossy leaves include Lolium perenne
Lolium perenne
Lolium perenne, common name Perennial Ryegrass, is a grass from the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalised around the world.-Description:...
and Poa Trivialis
Poa trivialis
Poa trivialis , is a perennial plant, and is regarded in the USA as an ornamental plant and is of the Poa family.-Description:...
.
Uses
Grazed by sheep as it is leaf at the base. It can withstand the cold and drought and remains green during the winter. Cattle and sheep will eat the young leaves eagerly, but leave the stiff, hard stems alone.It has been used for straw plaiting hats and other similar uses.
Foodplant for Skipper (butterfly)
Skipper (butterfly)
A skipper or skipper butterfly is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. They are named after their quick, darting flight habits. There are more than 3500 recognized species of skippers and they occur worldwide, but with the greatest diversity in the Neotropical regions of Central and South...
and brown butterfly families.