Japanese Stiltgrass and the Question Nobody’s Asking
A few days ago, I was showing my friend Innes a photograph — a small cluster of four-leaf clovers I’d found among the farm’s pasture edges, pressed together like a secret. She leaned in, looking past them at the background of the image, at a fringe of delicate, pale-green grass with a distinctive silver stripe running down each leaf.
“Ooo, I see Japanese stiltgrass – we have lots of that in our yard. Does it have any medicinal benefits?” she asked.
Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum. I didn’t know. But I told her I’d find out.