The Flickr Cutgrass Image Generatr

Cut grass and bench

... and the grass got its first cut of the year.

I am on a Shikara (pointed rowboat or gondola) ride on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, India. A local passes us hauling grass on a topless Shikara on Dal Lake. Locals who live on the Dal Lake can sometimes be spotted removing weeds and tall grass from the lake. (sadly, it was late evening and I did not spot any). These weeds and grass are sometimes used as cattle feed for their livestock, but are more often used as compost for their gardens and farms. Detailed notes about Shikaras, houseboats and the Dal Lake itself appear elsewhere in this album. (Srinagar, Kashmir, India, Apr/ May 2024)

A Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles ) in typical pose on cut grass in a park beside the Nambucca River, NSW mid_North Coast.

Cut grass lies frail:
Brief is the breath
Mown stalks exhale.
Long, long the death

It dies in the white hours
Of young-leafed June
With chestnut flowers,
With hedges snowlike strewn,

White lilac bowed,
Lost lanes of Queen Anne's lace,
And that high-builded cloud
Moving at summer's pace.

- Philip Larkin

Photos taken in August 2021

Photos taken in August 2021

Grass identification can be tough, but I believe this is rice cutgrass (botanical name Leersia oryzoides).

This grass was growing in a wetland / streamside area in Greenfield Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, just below the artificial waterfall feature at the east end of the lagoon.
The leaves and stems of rice cutgrass are very "sticky" - they are rough or sticky to the touch and grip your hands and clothing. The leaf blades can even cut exposed skin if you brush or rub against it vigorously; I believe that is where the "cutgrass" name of the Leersia genus comes from.
Rice cutgrass is a perennial grass believed to be native to many parts of the world, including North America. It is found in wet areas and is an Obligate wetland species in the U.S. National Wetland Plant List.

It reminds me somewhat of reed canary grass (though I'm sure the differences are much more apparent to trained botanists and ecologists). Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is an invasive in North America, whereas rice cutgrass is native. I've sometimes found them growing next to each other or intermingled, with reed canary grass generally occupying a slightly drier location. Reed canary grass also has a bit of a stick or grip to its leaves, though rice cutgrass is much stickier / rougher / sharp. Rice cutgrass also seems to grow shorter than reed canary grass, at least in southern Wisconsin.
There's a chance I have misidentified this and it is actually reed canary grass instead of rice cutgrass.

As a grass, Leersia oryzoides is in the Poales order and the Poaceae family.

Photo taken early August 2023. Original key: IMG_6424

Neatly wrapped bales.

Showing a lighter colour of grass after it’s been cut.

Years ago I used to do haymaking with my dad, on some land that he had near Morecambe, Lancashire.
It was hard work and long hours, but we really enjoyed it, working in lovely weather through to dusk.
My job was to throw the bales onto the back of the trailer.

Towneley park

Burnley

Fresh cut field with the grass baled and wrapped for haylage. The lovely, sweet fermented smell of haylage is intoxicating.

Brecon Beacons National Park,
Wales

Sparkles age 12 tabby

Photos from 2023

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Massey Ferguson 362 tractor J408 YWE

Seen cutting grass on a Peak District campsite.