Grasses, Sedges and Rushes

These plants are often confused with each other, but on close inspection are easily differentiated.

Grasses have hollow stems with swollen joints (also called nodes), they also usually have very small individual inconspicuous flowers.

Sedges are very similar to grasses, the biggest difference is in the stems, they are solid, unjointed and often triangular in the cross-section. Their flowers are also small and grouped into clusters.

Rushes have small clustered individual flowers that are wind pollinated. They are tall slender herbs.

Grasses, sedges and rushes occur throughout Wiltshire and can be found in many habitats, from species rich chalk grasslands to walls in urban areas, and from damp boggy areas around rivers to glades in woodlands.

In woodlands, flowering times of grasses are dependent upon canopy coverage. Species which flower earlier when growing under an open canopy than they would in the lower light levels of a more closed canopy are Cock’s Foot, Tufted Hair-grass, Creeping Bent, and Yorkshire Fog. Some typical grasses and sedges in woodlands include Pendulous Sedge, Wood-sedge, Giant Fescue, Hairy Brome, Wood Melick and Remote Sedge.

Unimproved chalk grasslands and neutral meadows are rich in grass species which usually have leaves above the ground most of the year, not just when in flower. Typical grasses, sedges and rushes include Glaucous Sedge, Sheep’s Fescue, Quaking Grass and Compact Rush.

There are also species of grasses, sedges and rushes that are found along water courses and in lakes: Common Club-rush, Reed Canary-grass, Reed Sweet-grass, Common Reed and Greater Pond-sedge.