''Triglochin maritima'' is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family

Juncaginaceae Juncaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, recognized by most taxonomists for the past few decades. It is also known as the ''arrowgrass'' family. It includes 3 genera with a total of 34 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). The APG II ...

. It is found in brackish marshes, freshwater marshes, wet sandy beaches,

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s, damp

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

and bogs. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern Northern Hemisphere. In the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

it is common on the coast, but very rare inland.

Description

It is similar to marsh arrowgrass (''Triglochin palustris'') but has the following differences: it has

stolons In biology, a stolon ( from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as a runner, is a horizontal connection between parts of an organism. It may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton. Typically, animal stolons ar ...

, is stouter. The leaves are fleshy and not furrowed above. It is not very aromatic. The

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

is more dense and like

sea plantain ''Plantago maritima'', the sea plantain, seaside plantain or goose tongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution in temperate and Arctic regions, native to most of Europe, n ...

. The flowers are fleshier.C. Dwight Marsh, A. B. Clawson, and G. C. Roe Jr (1929).
Arrow grass as a Stock-Poisoning Plant
'' United States Department of Agriculture. The fruits are oval, 4 mm long, 2 mm wide. It varies in height from . It flowers in May to August; flowers are greenish, 3 petalled, edged with purple, across, in a long spike. Common names include seaside arrowgrass, common arrowgrass, sea arrowgrass and shore arrowgrass. It can be an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

. ''Triglochin concinna'' is a synonym of this species. This plant is believed to be toxic, as it can produce

cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...

. However, this is usually when the plant is distressed in drought conditions or due to over harvesting, usually by grazing animals. There is a common belief that this species has been known to cause losses in cattle, with green leaves being more toxic than dried material, yet sheep and deer graze on the plant, especially in rural seaside areas. It could be that belief in the plants' toxicity is apocryphal and based on anecdotal evidence.

References

Juncaginaceae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Brackish water plants Freshwater plants {{Alismatales-stub