About the Site

Image courtesy of Jill Knutson Haukos

This site was created to help raise awareness about the importance and value of the plant family Poacea and the many ecosystems around the world that are dependent on it.

It goes beyond the usual reverence for the grasses that have economic, cultural and religious significance to people, such as rice, maize/corn, wheat, barley, oats, sugarcane, and bamboo.

More specifically, the site will be a place where the focus is on studies and notes (biological, ecological, cultural, and personal) of this fascinating angiosperm family, as well as being an outlet for some of the photography that I do. 

(If you'd like to be notified about new posts to the site, please use the subscribe via email form on the right side, or email me at banyanwanderer (at) gmail.com).

Some might wonder why I chose to focus on these plants. Surely the Aroids are more wondrously weird and beautiful in leaf and form (and I am in fact, an Aroider too), and the Orchids boast a multitude of flowers and various evolutionary contrivances for pollination to explore. 

But the grasses include the major staple foods like rice, corn, and wheat, as well as other economically important groups like bamboo and sugarcane, and grasses dominate and influence vast areas of the world. Countless animals and plants depend on them as the foundation of their habitat, and so they are literally several orders of magnitude more important in the overall scheme of things, as I list here. 

In addition to their economic and ecological importance, I believe they have a more subtle and deeper beauty than just clothes of gaudy colors and large leaves, although I would not sell grasses short on their amazing colors and forms. Witness the foliage of native Schizachyrium scoparium for example here, or the violets of the inflorescence of Cenchrum below.

I travel widely, and almost all of the images on this blog are taken by me (and have the website URL printed on them). I'll note copyright for those that are not.

One caveat that you should know is that I am not an agrostologist by training (one who studies grasses). My focus in graduate school was in plant molecular biology (and I am currently a Java programmer by trade), and so I am still learning to identify the specimens I see. Thus you'll have to forgive me if I make errors in identification, as I'll be learning along with you.

As an aside, Matt Candeias of the very popular podcast In Defense of Plants was kind enough to invite me for a chat about my favorite plant family, and it was a lot of fun. His podcast is without a doubt the best botanical podcast out there, and I have spent many a hike listening to it. If you have not heard it yet, check it out! And be sure to check out all the other episodes he has done. 

Episode 363 - Celebrating the Grasses

So, now I welcome you to learn about this most fascinating group of plants with me, and by learning about them help preserve the grasslands that are the home of countless plants and animals around the world.

Perhaps you too will come to appreciate their importance and beauty and consider yourself an OP (an Orang Poaceae or grassperson).

Enjoy!

I love bamboos (and all other grasses!)