A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants (grassland). It may be cut for hay or grazed by livestock such as cattle, sheep or goats.

Agricultural meadow

Especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow; grassland cut annually for hay (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, pasture, farmland, or other cleared land is no longer farmed or heavily 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 plants become well-established.

In North America prior to European colonization, Algonquian, Iroquois and other Native American people regularly cleared areas of forest to create transitional meadows where deer could find nutrition and be hunted. Many places named "Deerfield" are located at sites where 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 meadows occur at high elevations and are maintained by harsh climatic conditions
• Coastal meadows are maintained by salt sprays
• Desert meadows are restricted by low precipitation
• Prairies are maintained by periods of severe drought and are subject to wildfires
• Wet meadows are semi-wetland areas saturated with water throughout much of the year.

See also

• Coastal plain
• Field
• Flooded grasslands and savannas
• Flood-meadow
• Grassland
• Marsh
• Pampa
• Pasture
• Plain
• Plateau
• Prairie
• Rangeland
• Savanna
• Sods
• Steppe
• Tundra
• Water-meadow
• Wet meadow
• Veld

References

• Cornell University
• The Washington Post, "Today, 32,000 seedlings; tomorrow, a meadow"