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June 11, 2009 : Koeleria macrantha
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Plant Family / Families: Poaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Koeleria macrantha (Ledebour) Schultes
Institution: UBC Botanical Garden
Accession Number: 037910-5640-2006*
Name Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I find that grasses can be very difficult to photograph. The breeze stopped for just a moment allowing me to snap this photo. I took the shot facing the early evening sun that shone through the flower spikes, causing them to glow in the image.
Tom Wheeler provides the description. He writes:
Koeleria macrantha, familiarly called June grass, is named after the German botanist Georg Koeler (1765-1807). About 15 species of plants bear his surname. Macrantha refers to this grass's comparatively large flowers. The species is circumpolar and widely distributed, inhabiting dry rocky or grassy slopes and forest openings in the steppe (prairies) to sub-alpine areas.
We grow this perennial bunch (tufted) grass in our Garry Oak Meadow Garden, first planted in May 2007. June grass grows 60 to 75cm (to the apex of the inflorescence) and does not aggressively self-sow. It is well regarded by our staff and visitors as a tidy grass with cylindrical, whitish green, spike-like panicles that arch when ripe. The seed provenance of our garden plantings is a Garry oak ecosystem on southeastern Vancouver Island. The first sowing in pots at our nursery yielded an emergence rate of 46%—moderately successful for a grass.
Posted by Eric La Fountaine at June 11, 2009 9:55 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Sandyinz4 at June 11, 2009 12:47 PM
What a gorgeous photo! It's almost a painting! Beautiful!
Posted by: Carolina at June 11, 2009 12:58 PM
Perfection! Thank you!
Posted by: susan at June 11, 2009 1:42 PM
Truly beautiful photo - well done!
Posted by: Annie Morgan at June 11, 2009 1:45 PM
Very beautiful photograph and as you say, grasses are tough to photograph.
Posted by: Liz Heinz at June 11, 2009 4:45 PM
great photo. A month ago I tried to capture beautiful back-lit grass heads one evening, but no luck ... no "glow" in my photos
Posted by: Hollis at June 11, 2009 8:10 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
This is simply an exquisite photo. Thanks again for making my day!