ARROW= GRASS 



A New Stock-Poisoning Plant 



( Triglochin maritima ) 



IN THE AUTUMN OF 1918 we were informed by A. 0. Larson of 

 Castle Dale, Utah, that cattle had. died in southern Utah from eating 

 a plant known in that region as "goose-grass." Fatal poisoning had 

 been caused by the green plants in 

 pastures and more especially by the 

 dried plant in hay. Specimens sent 

 by Mr. Larson to the Nevada Station 

 were identified as "arrow-grass" or 

 "sour-grass" (Triglochin maritima). 

 Tire small amount of material sent 

 from Utah was insufficient to produce 

 any symptoms of poisoning in sheep ; 

 however, as this plant is common in 

 wet and semialkaline places in the 

 vicinity of Reno, experimental feed- 

 ings of larger amounts were begun at 

 once and continued throughout the 

 spring and summer of 1919. These 

 feeding tests showed clearly that 

 under certain conditions the plant is 

 poisonous to both sheep and .cattle. 

 The results of these tests are given in 

 detail in this bulletin. 



Common Names. 



Triglochin is known by three com- 

 mon names arrow-grass, goose-grass, 

 and sour-grass. Because arrow-grass 

 is the name most commonly and uni- 

 versally used, its adoption and use by 

 stockmen is recommended. 



Description of Plant. 



This poisonous plant belongs to a 

 little family of plants known as the 

 arrow-grass f amity. It grows in 

 bright-green clumps and bunches, so 

 much like grass that it is hard to find 

 in the midst of grasses and other 

 plants until the flower heads and pods 

 have formed. It grows in scattered 

 clumps about 12 inches wide, or in 

 irregular patches which may be from 

 10 to 20 feet or more across. The flat 

 clumps or bunches of arrow- grass grow from 6 to 12 inches high ; and 

 each clump of leaves bears a straight slender flower-stalk, growing to 



Figure 3. In grass meadows it 

 is hard to find Arrow-Grass 

 before it blooms. 



