Wiregrass

There are quite a few different grasses that get the name. It is a bit generic. Kind of like saying 'fuzzymoss' I suppose. But this particular wiregrass is really the quintessential native plant of pine woodlands on the southeastern coastal plain. It's analgous to big bluestem in the tallgrass prairie or buffalo grass in the shortgrass prairie.



Wiregrass grows in small clumps. When these clumps dominate a woodland or savanna, they form an ideal matrix for a quick-burning, low-intensity fire to move through that area. The grass grows back quickly, any woody shrubs are killed above-ground, and the mature trees are unaffected because the fire was not very intense.



If soil moisture and nutrient levels are high, a rich layer of vegetation typically occurs where you might observe close to 100 different plant species over an area the size of a modest backyard garden.



This is what wiregrass looks like in winter, here in Florida. Exciting, right? Actually, these pictures demonstrate the reason that wiregrass is called 'fine fuel' in the fire ecology business.



Another gopher tortoise. These animals, along with quail and several other species, forage on wiregrass. So it is just another example in a list of many native plants that form the building blocks of the 'original' American landscape. Unfortunately, it is also in a list of many native plants that are increasingly uncommon, mainly because of fire supression over the last 80-100 years.