Aeluropus littoralis (Gouan) Parl.
العكرش، عكرش الشاطئ
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Good fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Not toxic
Edibility and safety notes
This is a salt-marsh grass grazed by livestock, not a human food: no reliable record of people eating any part of it was found, and the site's old 'edible' label referred to grazing. Sheep graze it readily and the field guide rates it as good pasture; no livestock poisoning is reported. The leaf tips are stiff and sharp.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A creeping, mat-forming perennial grass with strong prostrate stems 5-30 cm long that root at the nodes. The leaves are blue-green, arranged in two rows, stiff and narrow (1-5 cm long, 1-2 mm wide) and taper to a sharp point. The flowering stems appear from May to August and bear a short spike-like head, 1-4 cm long, made up of 2-12 small dense clusters of spikelets. It is a salt-tolerant (halophytic) species.
Habitat
Edges of salt flats (sabkha) in desert and arid areas; coastal saline flats, salt marshes and slightly saline soils.
Distribution
Widely distributed from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent through the Mongolian Gobi. Found in southwestern, southeastern and eastern Europe, north and tropical west Africa, Arabia, Central Asia, China, Mongolia, India and Indo-China.
Pastoral value
Good grazing value according to the field guide. Sheep graze it readily on saline rangelands, and it is fairly rich in protein while young.
Other uses
Studied as a model salt-tolerant grass in research on salinity tolerance.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.152)
- Kew GrassBase - Aeluropus littoralis (description and distribution) — static1.kew.org
- Flora of Qatar - Aeluropus littoralis — floraofqatar.com
- UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants - Aeluropus littoralis — nationalredlist.org
- Kashan University - preference value of five halophytes for sheep (Aran and Bidgol salt lake) — faculty.kashanu.ac.ir
- Plants of the World Online - Aeluropus littoralis (search result; page itself could not be opened) — powo.science.kew.org
