Grass-leaved Orache

Orache is nitrogen-loving and salt-tolerant and is found on all the islands, in many places in dominant or subdominant populations.


Grass-leaved orache, scurvygrass, scentless mayweed and sea asters on Ringø.

The big hollow on Elleore, which is often filled with fjord water in the course of the winter, and which has a large colony of herring gulls and swans in spring, has a dense orache population, as do large parts of the barrier beach round Ringø.


Dense orache growth in the hollow on Elleore.

As well as grass-leaved orache, the closely related spear-leaved orache is found on a number of the islands, but not nearly as commonly, and on one or two islands common orache can also be seen. In autumn and winter orache seeds attract many passerines - for example the reed bunting. Common orache has spread from the beaches to the fields, where it benefits from nitrogen fertiliser, and it is now one of our most widespread weeds.




Key to the Distribution Map.