''Triglochin palustris'' or marsh arrowgrass
is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family
Juncaginaceae. It is found in damp grassland usually on
calcareous soils
Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.
In zoology
''Calcareous'' is used as an a ...
,
fens and meadows. The species
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
''palustris'' is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.
[Archibald William Smith ] 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.
Description
It is a slender
perennial herb 15 to 40 cm tall. It has no
stolons
In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...
, 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.
It has many 3 petaled flowers arranged in a long spike, with purple edged perianth segments, 2 mm long. It flowers from June until August.
The fruits are club shaped, 10 mm long and 2 mm wide. These plants can adapt to animals attacking it by closing its self in.
Similar species
''
Triglochin maritimum'' (sea arrowgrass) is similar but has the following differences: it has
stolons
In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...
, is stouter. The leaves are fleshy and not furrowed above. It is not very aromatic. The
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, 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 produced as the s ...
are 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. The fruits are oval, 4 mm long, 2 mm wide.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158842
Juncaginaceae