Photo © Carl Farmer |
Abundant on wet moorland Stems c 10-25 cm tall. Spikelet c 3-6 mm long Skye ID: Stem has one leaf only, short and near the base, arising as an outgrowth of the topmost basal sheath. Spikelets solitary at tip of stem, without a green leaf-like bract (though lowest glume may appear leaf-like at tip) Other features: Tufted. Blankets areas of ground turning them a beautiful gold colour in autumn. 3-6 flowers per spikelet. Each fruit surrounded by up to 6 bristles which project slightly beyond it looking like curly hairs. The vast majority of our plants are ssp germanicum, as is the case everywhere in Britain. The hybrid between ssp germanicum and ssp cespitosum has been recorded from Raasay. It has a more tightly-fitting top sheath whose opening would be around 1.5-2 mm across its widest diameter, as opposed to 2-3 mm for ssp germanicum. |
