WATERTON, Alta. – When it comes to plant identification, the best some people can do is pick out the dandelions from a rainbow of grasses and wildflowers found on the open range.
A basic knowledge of common plants can help determine whether the stand is healthy or overrun with troublesome weeds.
It can be a tricky science, however, because plants change appearance throughout the growing season, said Tim Romanow, Cardston County extension specialist.
Checking out native plants was part of a pasture school session offered in southwestern Alberta near Waterton Lakes National Park where there are more than 1,000 plant species.
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The presence of some plants is an indicator of problems like soil disturbance, drought or overgrazing. An explosion of dandelions may be a bad sign, for example. Grass should be the dominant species.
Rough fescue, sometimes called prairie wool, is a principal grass for southern Alberta grazers who need to defer forage into the late summer and winter. Brome and timothy can disintegrate by winter, but fescue holds its protein value so it works well in winter feed programs.
“In pastures that have been heavily overgrazed for 20, 30 years, the only plants you’ll find left are the rough fescue,” said Romanow.
It is a bunch grass and can grow into large bushes if not heavily used. People may think they do not have it but if they check under shrubs like cinqfoil, the grass will be found bunched up underneath.
“That is a good thing because it means that pasture has the capacity to bounce back,” he said.
Grass will reseed itself but takes a long time to re-establish. Seed has been collected but germination is low at 10 to 15 percent. If fescue has been disturbed by pipeline activity or other development, it may not return and it will be replaced with tame grasses that do not thrive as well in dry areas.
To identify it, run a finger backward down the blade. It should feel rough and there is a distinctive purple column on the bottom of the grass blades.
There are several different types of this grass including Idaho fescue. It is also a bunch grass that holds protein value.
It grows closer to the ground than rough fescue and appears in dry conditions.
Parry oat grass is a wispy type of grass with tips that tend to die back.
It is similar to a bunch grass but is softer than some other range grasses. It has larger seeds than fescue but does not seed itself every year. It has good forage value in late fall or early winter. The blades are as much as three millimetres wide.
Wildflowers brighten up the scenery and also contribute to pasture health by putting nitrogen back into the soil. Some can be easily grazed while others may be toxic to cattle. Also called forbs, these plants tend to have net-like veins in the leaves with bright coloured flowers like brown-eyed susan, also called gaillardia.
Three-flowered avens can grow 40 centimetres tall with fern like leaves. The flowers are often nodding and appear as bronze to purple fuzzy headed blooms.
It is a nitrogen fixing plant and cattle like it.
“When you have it in your pasture, it is an indicator of something good,” said Romanow.
Lupine is a perennial with blue flowers and long stalks. Leaves have pointed tips with a smooth upper surface and hairy underside. The cluster of leaflets follows the sun. As members of the pea family, they fix nitrogen.
“These plants shouldn’t be considered weeds. In a lot of ways they provide a lot of good,” he said.
Other plants are not beneficial.
The death camas has an onion bulb like root with a papery covering. The bulb is highly toxic. Cattle can pull the plant right out and may experience stomach upset after eating it. It can be found in many southern pastures and has a pale green flower that nods and looks like an onion gone to seed.
Common yarrow has a sage like smell and small white flowers.
Cattle do not eat it and it increases in disturbed sites.
Goat’sbeard looks like a giant dandelion when it blooms. It produces a big puffball of seeds and is milky inside when the plant is broken. It has no forage value. The milk and wax can cause mouth lesions in cattle.
The purple geranium has fern like leaves and furry stems that are milky and sticky inside. It is a native pasture plant but does not add much forage value. It can irritate the eyes. It will increase if there is not enough competition from other plants.
The shrubby cinqfoil is one of five different types. The shrubby type, or potentilla, is often seen in home gardens. All produce small yellow flowers. It is becoming more prevalent and in a serious drought may even provide some forage. It is a good habitat for wildlife and hides some grasses and litter.
