Flowers and fruit

  

On 15 March 2021, I was introducing a student to a few different wetland habitats.  When we walked by a salt marsh, I was a little surprised to see Seaside Arrow-grass (Triglochin maritima) in bloom already.  In fact, we were admiring some of the purple flowers when I noticed others that looked paler (see below) and realized that some plants were already past flowering and producing fruit!   

 

 

Many of the plants in local salt marshes flower later in the season, so we often botanize in salt marshes in June.  I haven't spent much time looking for flowering plants in this habitat during the late winter/early spring, so it's good to know that this species starts its season much earlier.