Bog grasses

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Bog grasses

***** Location: Ireland
***** Season: Autumn
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Bog Grasses

There are three major types of bog in Ireland; firstly Fens, which form where the bog is fed from ground waters rich in nutrients; raised bogs, which occupy the sites of former lake basins, and often form on top of fens, especially in the Irish midlands; and lastly blanket bogs, which cover mountain tops or sloping ground, especially on the west coast.

Fens are bogs which form in lake basins (right). The community of grasses, sedges, and bryophytes is fed from ground waters rich in nutrients. They are very often an early stage in the formation of raised bogs which grow on top of the fen. Their depth can vary depending on their location but they are usually 2 to 3m in depth. ome of our rarest flowering plants and bryophytes are confined to fens.

Raised bog is almost pure sphagnum moss (susán) with scattered grasses and sedges, and these are the bogs from which moss peat is extracted. Sphagnum can grow on rainwater alone, and as long as grasses, sedges and heathers cannot obtain sufficient nutrients from the bog, the sphagnum will continue to outstrip them in speed of growth, forming a huge dome of moss that gradually spreads outwards from the original lake basin from where it starts. Raised bogs probably began growing about 7,000 years ago.

About a foot below the surface of a bog the water is deprived of all oxygen, and the dead remains of moss, other plants and even humans can be preserved indefinitely. Country dwellers used to store butter below the surface of bogs, and examples of ‘bog-butter’ are still occasionally found. Raised bogs are fragile because they are like a huge plastic bag full of water - as soon as you make a pin prick in them they drain away and collapse. These bogs are sometimes called red bogs, because the dry peat looks brownish-red in colour - in blanket bog the cut turves dry black.

Blanket bogs cover much of the hills and land along the west coast of Ireland. They are dominated by heathers, grasses and sedges as well as sphagnum moss. Blanket bogs only develop in areas of the west, or mountaintops, with particularly high rainfall (more than 1.3 metres per year). They began growing about 4,000 years ago when rainfall increased. On higher ground, bogs are often referred to as moorland, where they are somewhat transitional between heath (dominated by heathers) and bog (dominated by sphagnum moss).

Heath is a transitional community, which links the more upland types of grassland with the drier types of mountain blanket bog. It occurs on shallow, peaty soils, with a higher mineral content than true peat characteristic of bogs. This community usually comprises a patchwork, with different areas dominated by different species; bracken, raithneach mhór (Pteridium aquilinum), bilberry, fraochán (Vaccinium myrtillus), bell heather, fraoch cloigíneach (Erica cinerea), ling heather, fraoch mór (Calluna vulgaris), rushes, sedges or grasses.




HEATHER, see below.

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

bog grasses in the evening -
a seagull
absorbs the light

© Aisling White, 2006
Haiku from Irelnad


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Related words

Heather (Erika) (Ericaceae)
kigo for autumn



ヘザー（Heather）
エリカ属(Erica), カルーナ属(Calluna),ダボエシア属(Daboecia)
ヒース（Heath）, リング（Ling)

Heather is at home in Europe (e.g. Ireland) in areas with acid soil, such as bogs and similar landscapes.
Ireland, Scotland, Germany (Lueneburger Heide) are among the best.
France and Spain have their heathers too.

Heather flowers in the autumn and produces spectacular purple landscapes at that time.

Heather honey is the very best in flavour and the most expensive, and it is very hard nowadays to find it pure.

Ericaceae family:
HEIDE, Heidekraut, Erika in German.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidekraut

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When God first made the world, He looked at the bare and barren hillsides and thought how nice it would be to cover them with some kind of beautiful tree or flower. So he turned to the Giant Oak, the biggest and strongest of all of the trees he had made, and asked him if he would be willing to go up to the bare hills to help make them look more attractive. But the oak explained that he needed a good depth of soil in order to grow and that the hillsides would be far too rocky for him to take root.

So God left the oak tree and turned to the honeysuckle with its lovely yellow flower and beautiful sweet fragrance. He asked the honeysuckle if she would care to grow on the hillsides and spread her beauty and fragrance amongst the barren slopes. But the honeysuckle explained that she needed a wall or a fence or even another plant to grow against, and for that reason, it would be quite impossible for her to grow in the hills.

So God then turned to one of the sweetest and most beautiful of all the flowers - the rose. God asked the rose if she would care to grace the rugged highlands with her splendour. But the rose explained that the wind and the rain and the cold on the hills would destroy her, and so she would not be able to grow on the hills.

Disappointed with the oak, the honeysuckle and the rose, God turned away. At length, he came across a small, low lying, green shrub with a flower of tiny petals -some purple and some white. It was a heather.

God asked the heather the same question that he’d asked the others.
"Will you go and grow upon the hillsides to make them more beautiful?"

The heather thought about the poor soil, the wind and the rain - and wasn’t very sure that she could do a good job. But turning to God she replied that if he wanted her to do it, she would certainly give it a try.

God was very pleased.

Read the rest of the story here
　©　www.electricscotland.com

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***** WKD : Ireland Saijiki, Irish Saijiki


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