Meadow

field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants (grassland)

A meadow is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable conditions, but are often artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland for the production of hay, fodder, or livestock. Meadow habitats, as a group, are characterized as "semi-natural grasslands", meaning that they are largely composed of species native to the region, with only limited human intervention.

Quotes

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  • Ye have been fresh and green,
      Ye have been fill’d with flowers,
    And ye the walks have been
      Where maids have spent their hours.
    You have beheld how they
      With wicker arks did come
    To kiss and bear away
      The richer cowslips home.
    You’ve heard them sweetly sing,
      And seen them in a round:
    Each virgin like a spring,
      With honeysuckles crown’d.
    But now we see none here
      Whose silv’ry feet did tread
    And with dishevell’d hair
      Adorn’d this smoother mead.
    Like unthrifts, having spent
      Your stock and needy grown,
    You’re left here to lament
      Your poor estates, alone.
  • And what’s a life? The flourishing array
    Of the proud summer-meadow, which to-day
    Wears her green plush, and is to-morrow hay.
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