spread over the ground. The lack of a seed bank for yellow rattle means that it depends on seed produced from plants during the previous year. Pasture and hay field infestation In the northeastern United States, yellow rattle is considered a pest, as it decreases crop yields of grass and hay. Where the plant is found to have infested farmland it has to be suppressed; non-herbicidal strategies for removing it include the application of wood ash and sawdust on affected pastures. Uses and cultivation Yellow rattle is used to proactively create or restore wildflower meadows. It is used to reduce the dominance of grasses, when more expensive methods, such as removing the nutrient-rich topsoil, or impractical methods, such as changing the timing and intensity of grazing, cannot be used. This improves the chances of other species of flowers becoming established. According to Natural England, the optimum density of yellow rattle plants needed to enable other species to be introduced is 100 to 200 per m2. Studies have shown that the plant's role in maintaining species diversity is through differential growth suppression effects and enhanced soil nutrient recycling. The yellow rattle seed is sown thinly onto grassland where gaps have been created, or where all the grass has been cut back and the clippings removed. Seeds can be also be introduced by the spreading of green hay. The grass should be kept short until the beginning of March, after which the seedlings become established. After the yellow rattle plants have germinated and matured, the fruits shed their seeds. The meadow hay is cut and removed to encourage the growth introduced wild flowers. The seed, which is short-lived, is sown in the autumn, using seed harvested that year. The seeds have to remain on or under the ground throughout the cold months of winter in order to germinate in the spring. Notes References Sources Further reading External links minor Parasitic plants Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Flora of Latvia Flora of Lithuania Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Flora of Romania Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor Rhinanthus minor