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Species of the Month - April 2016 Field Woodrush or Good Friday Grass Luzula campestris This happy little plant pops up in short turf, including lawns, around the beginning of April, hence its traditional name of Good Friday Grass. It is not a grass but a member of the rush family. Woodrushes (Luzula sp.) can be told from other rushes (Juncus sp.) by the long white hairs on the leaves, visible in the photo above. These hairs are also present on the sheath below the inflorescence. At the top
of the stem there are typically 3-5 stalked flowerheads surrounding one
unstalked one. The heads are often rather nodding and each
contains about 4-12 individual flowers. Each flower has 6 brown
tepals, as with all members of the rush family. The word tepals is
used in cases where sepals and petals are hardly differentiated.
The pale yellow anthers are very conspicuous when the flowers open. They are normally at least 3 times as long as the filament or "stalk" that supports them, whereas in Heath Woodrush (L multiflora) the anthers are about the same length as their filaments, or up to twice as long.
Heath Woodrush is the only species that could be mistaken for Field
Woodrush. It is a larger plant and is tufted, whereas Field Woodrush
is rhizomatous and so the stems arise singly or sometimes 2-3 together,
and others will be found nearby arising from the same underground
rhizome. Heath Woodrush is very rarely recorded as early as April,
but can cause confusion later in the year when flowers have been
replaced by seed capsules in both species.
Field Woodrush is very common but is under-recorded because it is only noticeable in spring and early summer, and has usually died down completely by July, except in the uplands where the season is less advanced. It is common in grazed grassland and on road verges, as well as in lawns.
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Carl Farmer
2 Apr: Found by Carl at Ardchattan in mowed grass and in grazed field.
4 Apr: Plentiful in roadside verge at Dunbeg, Carl
7 Apr: Found by Jan and Sallie in Glen Ure
8 Apr: Found by Jan on her drying green at Ballachulish
9 Apr: In several places along the road from Oban to Glencruitten, Carl
9 Apr: Plenty seen in short grass at Onich, Sallie
13 Apr: Found by Judith at Drimfern, Glen Aray
14 Apr: Found by Sallie in many places in the Point area, Lismore
16 Apr: Found on our LNHG field trip at Ford
30 Apr: Plentiful in grazed turf around the north end of Loch Fiart,
Lismore
Note you can still send in
records for past species of the month. Here are the previous
April species:
Apr 2015 - Marsh Violet
Last month's page
Complete list of Species of the
Month
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