Meadow 371406 225841383 2008-07-15T17:26:41Z SimpleJYouTube 7469069 [[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 225841256 by [[Special:Contributions/SimpleJYouTube|SimpleJYouTube]] ([[User talk:SimpleJYouTube|talk]]) {{otheruses}} [[Image:BerneseAlps.JPG|thumb|Meadow near [[Grindelwald]] in the [[Swiss Alps]]]] [[Image:Bovill-id-us-camas-field.png|thumb|[[Camassia quamash|Quamash]] meadow near [[Bovill, Idaho]]]] [[Image:Santagadea.JPG|thumb|[[Coast|Coastal meadow]] at the [[Bay of Biscay]] near [[Tapia de Casariego]], [[Spain]]]] [[Image:Flood-meadow near Hohenau.jpg|thumb|[[Flood-meadow]] near [[Hohenau an der March]], [[Austria]]]] A '''meadow''' is a field vegetated primarily by [[grass]] and other non-[[woody plants]]. It may be cut for [[hay]] or [[grazing|grazed]] by [[livestock]] such as [[cattle]], [[sheep]] or [[goat]]s. ==Agricultural meadow== Especially in the [[United Kingdom]], the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow – grassland mown annually for [[hay]] ([[Old English language|Old English]] ''mædwe''). "[[Pasture]]" is used in contrast for land which is primarily grazed, which may include grassland ("grass pasture"), but also includes non-grassland habitats such as [[heathland]], [[moorland]] and [[wood pasture]]. "Grassland" is used to include both meadow and grass pasture. ==Transitional meadows== A transitional meadow occurs when a [[Field (agriculture)|field]], [[pasture]], [[Farmland (farming)|farmland]], or other cleared land is no longer [[farming|farmed]] or heavily [[grazing|grazed]] and starts to overgrow. Once meadow conditions are achieved, however, the condition is only temporary because the early colonizers will be shaded out when [[woody plant]]s become well-established. In [[North America]] prior to [[European people|European]] [[colonization]], [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]], [[Iroquois]] and other [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people regularly cleared areas of forest to create transitional meadows where [[deer]] could find [[nutrition]] and be [[deer hunting|hunted]]. Many places named "[[Deerfield]]" are located at sites where [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] once practised this form of [[land management]]. ==Perpetual meadow == A perpetual meadow is one in which environmental factors restrict the growth of woody plants indefinitely. For example: *[[Alpine meadow]]s occur at high elevations and are maintained by harsh climatic conditions *[[coast|Coastal meadows]] are maintained by [[seawater|salt sprays]] *[[desert|Desert meadows]] are restricted by low [[Precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] *[[Prairies]] are maintained by periods of severe [[drought]] and are subject to [[wildfires]] *[[Wet meadow]]s are semi-[[wetland]] areas saturated with water throughout much of the year. ==See also== *[[Coastal plain]] *[[Field (agriculture)|Field]] *[[Flooded grasslands and savannas]] *[[Flood-meadow]] *[[Grassland]] *[[Pampa]] *[[Pasture]] *[[Plain]] *[[Plateau]] *[[Prairie]] *[[Rangeland]] *[[Savanna]] *[[Sods]] *[[Steppe]] *[[Tundra]] *[[Water-meadow]] *[[Wet meadow]] *[[Veld]] ==References== *[http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/Suffolk/grownet/flowers/meadow.htm Cornell University] *[http://www.azcentral.com/home/garden/articles/0513gardening13.html The Washington Post, "Today, 32,000 seedlings; tomorrow, a meadow"] ==External links== {{Commonscat|Meadows}} *[http://www.wildmeadows.org.uk UK Wild Meadows Website] *[http://www.floralocale.org Flora locale - information on creating wildflower meadows] *[http://www.meadowscape.co.uk/online/meadow/meadow_planting.htm Meadow Planting] *[http://www.sankey.ws/scyear.html A Year in a Meadow] (Ottawa Canada) *[http://www.sankey.ws/meadow.html Grow a Back Yard Meadow] (Ottawa Canada) [[Category:Grasslands]] [[bg:Ливада]] [[cs:Louka (zemědělství)]] [[da:Eng]] [[de:Wiese (Grünland)]] [[es:Prado]] [[eu:Larre]] [[id:Padang rumput]] [[lt:Pieva]] [[mk:Ливада]] [[nl:Made (weiland)]] [[pl:Łąka]] [[ru:Луг]] [[sk:Lúka]] [[sl:Travnik]] [[fi:Niitty]] [[sv:Äng]] [[uk:Лука (рослинність)]] [[bat-smg:Pėiva]]