abotany: change

[15_the_circle]

[OT from cottage renovations]

it was pointed out by our visiting botanist-in-exile that the yellow star grass is blooming in Morgan Park.  it does not occur anywhere else in the Grove. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Morgan Park

yellow star grass

several years ago the Town decided to close up the open woods along our southern border.  this was done by a simple change to our management practices: the curtailment of mowing in order to allow a hedgerow to form.  it has done just that, and now features plenty of wild multiflora rose, honeysuckle and other opportunistic species. 

the idea was to set up a buffer zone to insulate the Grove from the street traffic and the railway.  though I am as xenophobic and arbophilic as any Grover, my own preference was to keep the vista open, as it provided a welcoming prospect along our main entrance and maintained a better historical connection to the railway whose opening brought the Grove into existence.  as the barrier has grown in and fulfilled its purpose I have become accustomed to it in a grudging sort of way.  I hadn't realised that as it has expanded the yellow star grass has been retreating as its habitat has dimished, and it may not survive the transformation. 

one generally associates habitat loss with the sort of change inflicted by developers and large earthmoving equipment.  it can also happen on a smaller scale and as an unintended consequence.