Home Forums FineTunedMac Community Lounge Rust-colored ditch plant

This item is about as far out as a thread can be, I venture.

Last month, while in southern Ontario, traveling from Toronto to cottage country (past Peterborough), I spotted numerous clumps/clusters of a tall (5-8 feet) grasslike plant growing in the ditch adjacent to the highway. What was striking about it, other than its height, was that it was rust-colored from top to bottom. About 6 inches from the tip there was a bulge of some sort on the stems, perhaps 4 inches long, but definitely not an awn.

Guidebooks in the provincial parks were unilluminating. Several searches via the Internet yielded only an apparent "kissing cousin", something like Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash — Indiangrass, Yellow indian grass (http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SONU2).

Calls to various garden centers and a university garden line were equally frustrating.

Anybody got a clue?

I'm afraid I cannot help you, but I wonder if you took a photograph of your mystery weed you can post somewhere for us to study?

No such luck. I had assumed the locals, especially provincial park guides, would know, but guess what?

I was going to suggest "one of the Rushes" but that wouldn't have been too helpful....narrowing your search only to about a bazillion types. Although you mention "rust coloured", that might be a function of the time of year. Some plant's stems will change colour through seasons.

Does Juncus Effusus look anything like what you saw? In a garden, this isn't as tall as the plants you saw (about 2 feet) but there may be a variety that grows taller in the wild.

ryck

Nope, Juncus effusus isn't close. But thanks for looking into the enigma.

how about Curly Dock?

Is it possible that what you saw was Indiangrass but in a different growth stage or perhaps a slightly different variety? Your description fits indiangrass and here in North Texas the seed heads and even the stems are a definite reddish brown in certain growth stages.

Perhaps it's from Mars?

Definitely not curly dock. But to your credit, that's what the local unversity garden line came up with too.
The plant I saw seemed to be much more grasslike and, as mentioned, with a bulge of something ca 6 inches from the pinnacle.

Unless I was looped out on something hallucinogenic (which I wasn't), the plant ain't fictional.

One option is to register and post your question at the Cottage Life Forums (probably Nature & Environment > Think outside the cottage) which are Ontario-centric.


I'll have a look in my books as well. (Fake expertise: sedges are triangular in section.)

Dermot

Still desperately seeking ...

I found a wealth of information at Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) Agricultural Information Contact Centre and thought I'd share same.

The OMAFRA weed gallery is at http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/weedgal.htm ; however, it has mainly pictures of plants that are considered a weed problem for commercial farming.

There is a weed identification service offered through Ontarioweeds.com; but they require a photograph submitted to make an ID. The website is www.ontarioweeds.com .

I also heard back from some environmental assessment professionals in Manitoba. Nobody has a clue there.
So it may be a plant which only grows (and perhaps lives on as a stunning albeit dead ditch/roadside ornamental) in more temperate climes.