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Yorkshire Fog, Holcus lanatus,
turns patches of waste ground and meadows to a pinkish haze
at this time of year as the grass comes into flower. It grows
as an elegant weed in corners of our garden by the pond and
the shed. It was called Velvet Grass in North
America, where it was introduced, because of the soft downy
hairs that cover its leaf sheaths and leaves.
As pen and ink seemed too emphatic for the delicate panicle
of flowers, I used a propelling pencil, a Staedtler
Mars micro with a 0.3 mm lead, for the drawing, then
added watercolour.
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Yellow anthers hang from the spikelet; the
flower of the grass which has two outer scales; the glumes.
There are two more scales, known as the lemma
and the palea, which are often important in
the identification of grasses, hidden inside each flower. |
