Glaux maritima

Sea milkwort is an unpretentious plant with very small delicate flowers. However, when it blossoms in the spring, the thousands of mini plants turn large surfaces into a pinkish carpet. Sea milkwort is addicted to salt. Although you find it mostly in coastal regions, as long as there is salt in the soil or air it can also grow far inland, such as the salt deserts in Asia. The range of salt necessary to grow can vary from occasional flooding to just salt spray. Sea milkwort dies off entirely above ground in the winter, however the plant is not dead. It makes buds under the surface, appearing again in the spring. One would think the plant is an annual, but thanks to this bud it is classified as a perennial.

Glaux maritima var. maritima :
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Glaux maritima var. obtusifolia Fernald:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Glaux maritima L.:
China (Asia)
Japan (Asia)
Kyrgyzstan (Asia)
Kazakhstan (Asia)
Mongolia (Asia)
Pakistan (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
Tajikistan (Asia)
Turkmenistan (Asia)
United States (North America)
Uzbekistan (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Distribution: Temperate and Artic regions of the N. Hemisphere.

A glabrous perennial rooting at the nodes; the nodes with scaly and opposite leaves. Stem (s) leafy, prostrate to ascending. Leaves ± fleshy, 5-12 x 2.5-5.5 mm, elliptic-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, pale green, sessile, uppermost smaller, crowded, often glandular-punctate, margin whitish. Flowers axillary solitary, barely exserted from the subtending leaf, lilac or pink, subsessile; pedicel 1-1.5 mm long. Calyx cupular, 3.5-4.5 mm long, petaloid; limb 5-6 mm broad; lobes obtuse, ± 2 mm long, sub-orbicular, margin hyaline. Stamens included; filament 2-2.5 mm long, anther oblong, base subcordate. Carpel ± equalling the calyx. Ovary ovoid, glabrous; style ± 2.5 mm long, slightly recurved at anthesis, stigma obscure or sub-capitate. Capsule globose, 2.5-3 mm broad, acute at one end. Seeds trigonal, c. 1.2 mm long, minutely reticulate, reddish-brown.

Plants 3--25 cm tall. Rootstock with scalelike, submembranous leaves. Stems erect or procumbent at base, fleshy, simple or branched. Leaf blade linear to narrowly elliptic-oblong or subspatulate, 4--15 X 1.5--3.5(--5) mm, nearly fleshy, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse to acute. Pedicel 0.1--0.7(--1.5) mm. Flowers in axils of upper leaves. Calyx white or pink, 3--5 mm; lobes obovate-oblong, 1.5--2 mm wide, apex rounded. Stamens slightly shorter than calyx lobes. Ovary glandular punctate on upper 1/2; style ca. as long as stamens. Capsule 2.5--3 mm in diam. Fl. Jun. 2n = 30.

Beaches, muddy shallows, saline soils, inland salt marshes. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Europe, North America, temperate and arctic regions of northern hemisphere].

Foodplant / open feeder
larva of Monostegia abdominalis grazes on live leaf of Glaux maritima

Foodplant / saprobe
amphigenous, immersed pycnidium of Septoria coelomycetous anamorph of Septoria glaucis is saprobic on dead leaf (basal) of Glaux maritima
Remarks: season: 8-9

Foodplant / parasite
pycnium of Uromyces lineolatus parasitises live leaf of Glaux maritima
Remarks: season: 5-6

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 5
Specimens with Barcodes: 13
Species With Barcodes: 1

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: T5 - Secure

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: T5 - Secure

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure