Sedge in the Woods

Sedge

With May nearly upon us, we are enjoying our sport of nosing around gardens and woodlands in search of the local flora and fauna. While many of the flowers we find are beautiful and showy, some are just downright strange – but still beautiful in their own right. We found these pendulous sedge flowers (Carex pendula) growing along the path leading through an ancient woodland. It looks like a wily old bird sticking its neck up out of the grass, doesn’t it? Quite the personality!

Graminoids are the flowering grasses, rushes, and sedges that are found across the British Isles, and are frequently indicators of ancient woodlands. They have small or no petals because they are wind-pollinated, so don’t need to attract insects for pollination. The Woodland Trust gives this easy way to tell graminoids (sedges, rushes, and grasses) apart. Sedges have edges, rushes are round and grasses are hollow right up from the ground.