Marsh arrowgrass
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Juncaginaceae
Genus: Triglochin
Species:
T. palustris
Binomial name
Triglochin palustris

Triglochin palustris or marsh arrowgrass[1][2] is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in damp grassland usually on calcareous soils, fens and meadows. The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.[3] It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It can be found locally in the British Isles especially the north.[4]

Description

It is a slender perennial herb 15 to 40 cm tall. It has no stolons, and emits a pleasant aromatic smell when bruised.

The leaves are linear, 10 to 20 cm long, rounded on the lower side, deeply grooved on the other.[5]: 884  It has many flowers with 6 tepals arranged in a long spike,[5] with purple edged perianth segments, 2 mm long. It flowers from June until August.[6] The fruits are club shaped, 10 mm long and 2 mm wide.

Similar species

Triglochin maritima (sea arrowgrass) is similar but has the following differences: it has stolons, is stouter, has fleshier leaves not furrowed above and is not very aromatic.[4] The raceme is denser and superficially like that of sea plantain.[4]

References

  1. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Triglochin palustris". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. ^ Archibald William Smith A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins, p. 258, at Google Books
  4. ^ a b c Rose, Francis (2006). The Wild Flower Key. Frederick Warne & Collins. pp. 486–487. ISBN 978-0-7232-5175-0.
  5. ^ a b Stace, C. A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (Fourth ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C & M Floristics. ISBN 978-1-5272-2630-2.
  6. ^ Sterry, Paul (2006). Complete British Wild Flowers. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-00-781484-8.
Categories