Mystery Grass

Whenever I visit Mount Douglas Park I always visit a small swampy area because it has such a grand stand of Skunk Cabbage and to see the wonderful cuneiform of deer hoofprints in the black mud. On my last visit however, what drew my attention were stands of this grass with their striking flower heads. I'm guessing these are male and female flowers but I have no idea. Nor do I know what this grass is called. Any ideas?

Grass 2

In June I posted a photo of some grass with a memo to myself to pay more attention to these plants. Since then I've collected a few more photos of grasses during my morning walks and thought them a good subject to experiment with this collage method of presentation.

Grass

I spend a lot of time photographing flowers and when I get mindful enough I look with an unprejudiced eye at local weeds and invasive species. But I have seldom paid any attention to grasses. One reason is their lack of colorful flowers. Another is that those long slender stems are so sensitive to the slightest breeze that they are very difficult to photograph. Grasses have been around for a long time - traces of them have been found in fossilized dinosaur dung. While they are generally pretty inconspicuous they are an important plant family with about 3,500 different species. Click HERE to read what Wikipedia has to say about grasses.