68 
MEADOW ASSOCIATIONS 
Merging with the shore type is a wet meadow of sedges and tall, coarse 
grass. It is between 100 and 200 yards wide at this place, and although 
in standing water it forms a dense growth. 
Primary spp.: Carex trichocarpa var. aristata 
Fluminia jestucacea 
Secondary spp,: Potamogeton gramineus var. graminijolius 
Beckmannifi Syzigachne 
Calamagrostis canadensis 
Glyceria grandis 
Carex aqualilis 
Scirpus validus 
Eleocharis palustns 
Sium suave 
Glyceria, Eleocharis, and Potamogeton are found mainly at the wetter, 
lakeward margin. Carex trichocarpa var. aristata is one of the most impor- 
tant plants in the lowlands due to its abundance and value as forage. Most 
of the hay that has been cut for many years in the sloughs along upper Slave 
river is of this plant, as will be shown later. It is also an important source 
of winter feed for the buffalo. The tall grass, Fluminia , is not so uniform 
in distribution as the sedge, becoming more common in wetter areas like 
those that occur on the delta plains. In drier parts of the sedge meadow, 
semi-aquatic plants such as Potamogeton, Scirpus, Carex aquatilis, Eleo- 
charis, and Glyceria disappear and the stand of the dominant Carex becomes 
nearly pure, with the grasses Phalaris arundinacea and Fluminia jestucacea 
appearing in a few places. 
Between the sedges, which appear dark green on the landscape, and the 
nearest willow groves, there is an extensive meadow of blue-joint grass 
Calamagrostis canadensis , 
Primary sp,: Calamagrostis canadensis 
Secondary spp.: Polygonum natans forma Hartwrightii 
Mentha, canadensis var. glabrata 
Stachys scopulorum 
The predominating species is one of the commonest in the Athabaska-Great 
Slake Lake region, but outside the delta plains and some of the upland semi- 
open prairies it is confined to the willow margins of shores and sloughs 
(See Figures 9, 10, 11, 12). In the Athabaska-Peace delta it covers many 
square miles with a close turf, accompanied by very few other species, and 
is one of the most important sources of hay and forage the country pos- 
sesses. Many buffalo feed upon it the year around, and it serves as autumn 
and winter feed for the herds that migrate to the lowlands at those seasons 
of the year. Along the Quatre Fourches the inhabitants of Chipewyan 
have for many years cut excellent hay from the meadows of this grass. 
Plate X A is a photograph of new stacks of hay cut during the summer of 
1930. In the latter part of August the fruiting panicles were turning to a 
rich golden colour, reminding one of fields of ripening grain on the prairies 
farther south. 
Variations in the associations of the shores and meadow r s are chiefly in 
the way of expansions and contractions in -width and prominence. The low- 
lying deltas around the eastern ends of the Hay River channels show a 
general widening, particularly of the shore types, involving a much more 
abundant growth of Scirpus and Glyceria than in the section discussed 
