And tail of the dog

Crested Dog's-tail (Cynosurus cristatus)

Last week, I introduced you to Smaller Cat's-tail (Phleum bertolonii), one of the grasses currently flowering in our pocket meadow. Today, I'm featuring the canine equivalent (ha ha), the Crested Dog's-tail (Cynosurus cristatus). This lovely, short-lived perennial grows in rich lowland grasslands across much of the British Isles. We had only one small patch the first year we let our meadow grow, but it has since spread to several other corners of the grassy patch. It tolerates a variety of soil types, but doesn't like to be waterlogged, so our rather porous soil suits it just fine. Each plant forms a low, compact tuft of hairless, flat leaves which are narrow and somewhat stiff. The panicles (a fancy botanical word for a flower spike with branches) are flat on two sides with flowers radiating out in a flat plane in two directions. I'm not sure why somebody thought that looked like a dog's tail, but there you go! The plant is native to Europe and southwestern Asia, but has been widely introduced elsewhere in the world. In Europe, it is sometimes used as sheep fodder, while in North America, it is typically used for revegetation projects or as an ornamental. It serves as the host plant for the caterpillars of several species of butterfly in the browns and skippers families – reason enough to appreciate its presence in the garden.