European beach grass

Ammophila arenaria (European beach grass, marram grass) is a robust, deep-rooted perennial dune grass of the family Poaceae forming stiff, dense tussocks of erect stems up to about 1.2 m tall, spreading vigorously by stout creeping rhizomes that can extend laterally up to 2 m within six months, building and stabilising sand dunes. The long, rigid, sharply pointed grey-green leaf blades reach up to 1 m in length and roll tightly inward in dry conditions, exposing only the smooth lower surface to the wind while trapping humid air in grooves on the inner surface to reduce water loss. The inflorescence is a stout, dense, narrowly cylindrical spike-like panicle 15–30 cm long with the branches pressed close to the central axis, bearing pale straw-coloured, two- to four-flowered spikelets 12–14 mm long; flowering takes place from May to August. Native to the coastlines of western and southern Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, marram grass colonises shifting, accreting, and stabilised sand dunes, and has been very widely planted (and become locally invasive) for dune stabilisation in temperate coasts of North America, South Africa, and Australasia.