Spergularia salina

Just like the names indicate, sea and sand spurrys are found in salty or sandy soils. The salt sand spurry grows on saline ground high up on the salt marsh where it rarely floods. Greater sea spurrey grows lower down on the marsh, where it risks the chance of being flooded. However, this plant has an ingenious method for suriving such a salty bath. As the water rises, the petals will close and retain an air bubble to keep the pistil and stamens dry.

Nile region, Mediterranean region and Sinai.

Northern hemisphere, introduced into southern hemisphere.

Tissa marina (L.) Britton:
Bolivia (South America)
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.

Spergularia marina var. tenuis (Greene) R. Rossbach:
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.

Spergularia marina var. marina :
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.

Spergularia marina var. simonii O. Deg. & I. Deg.:
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.

Spergularia salina J. Presl & C. Presl:
Peru (South 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.

introduced and native; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Iowa, Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tex., Utah, Va., Wash., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia; almost cosmopolitan via introduction.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia; N Africa, Europe, North America].

This species is endemic to the western Mediterranean: Algeria, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, and southern France. In Algeria the species is probably extinct since the only known sites are now within the suburbs of Algers and the habitat has been destroyed.
In France, the species is found in Languedoc (Hérault).

Belgium, Gulf of Mexico

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

Global Range: (Usually described under the synonym Spergularia marina) Quebec to British Columbia, south along coast to Florida and locally inland to central New York, Illinois, Texas, and New Mexico. West coast from Washington to southern California. Also in Eurasia, Baja California, and South America. Records of this species from coastal regions of North America are native, while inland occurrences are adventive due to the use of de-icing salt, except at natural saltsprings where it may be native (Argus and White 1982).

Plants annual, delicate, 8-25(-30) cm, stipitate-glandular, at least in inflorescence. Taproots ± slender. Stems erect to ascending or prostrate, usually much-branched proximally; main stem 0.6-2(-3) mm diam. proximally. Leaves: stipules inconspicuous, dull white, broadly triangular, 1.2-3.5 mm, longer than wide, apex acute to short-acuminate; blade linear, (0.8-)1.5-4 cm, fleshy, apex blunt to apiculate; axillary leaf clusters usually absent. Cymes simple to 3+-compound or flowers solitary and axillary. Pedicels reflexed and oriented to 1 side in fruit. Flowers: sepals connate 0.5-1 mm proximally, lobes often 3-veined, ovate to elliptic, 2.5-4.5 mm, to 4.8 mm in fruit, margins 0.1-0.5 mm wide, apex acute to rounded; petals white or pink to rosy, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 0.8-1 times as long as sepals; stamens (1-)2-3(-5); styles 0.4-0.7 mm. Capsules greenish to tan, 2.8-6.4 mm, 1-1.5 times as long as sepals. Seeds light brown to reddish brown, with submarginal groove, broadly ovate, ± plump, 0.5-0.7(-0.8) mm, dull, ± smooth, often with gland-tipped papillae (30×); wing usually absent or incomplete. 2n = 18? (Asia), 36 (Europe).

Herbs annual or biennial, rarely perennial, with slender or slightly fleshy stock. Stems 10--30 cm tall, densely pubescent. Leaves not or rarely fasciculate, 5--30 × 1--1.5 mm, fleshy, apex mucronate; stipules not silvery, broadly triangular, forming a sheath. Flowers terminal or axillary; bracts reduced. Sepals ovate, ca. 3.5 × 1.5--1.8 mm, abaxially glandular pubescent, margin membranous. Petals pink above, white near base, rarely entirely white, ovate-oblong or elliptic-ovate, shorter than sepals, apex obtuse. Stamens 2--5. Capsule 5--6 mm, ovoid, usually exceeding calyx. Seeds light brown, 0.5--0.7 mm, smooth or densely tuberculate, mostly unwinged, sometimes with erose wing. Fl. Apr--Jul, fr. May--Sep. 2n = 36.

Spergularia marina (Linnaeus) Grisebach; S. marina var. tenuis (Greene) R. Rossbach; S. salina var. tenuis (Greene) Jepson; S. tenuis Greene; Tissa marina (Linnaeus) Britton

Arenaria rubra Linnaeus var. marina Linnaeus; Spergularia salina J. Presl & C. Presl.

Mud flats, alkaline fields, sandy river bottoms, sandy coasts, salt marshes, saline highway edges (Great Lakes region); 0-1400m.

Saline soils, salt meadows, riversides, lakesides, farmlands; 200--2800 m.

Habitat and Ecology

Systems

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater

Depth range based on 4 specimens in 1 taxon.

Environmental ranges
  Depth range (m): 1 - 1
 
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.

Comments: Along coasts and occasionally inland in more or less alkaline areas

Foodplant / parasite
sorus of Albugo lepigoni parasitises live above ground parts of Spergularia marina

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / feeds on
Gronops lunatus feeds on Spergularia marina
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
sporangium of Peronospora obovata parasitises live Spergularia marina

Foodplant / parasite
telium of Uromyces sparsus parasitises live Spergularia marina

Flowering summer-early fall.

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: 10
Specimens with Barcodes: 11
Species With Barcodes: 1

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1

Year Assessed

Assessor/s

Reviewer/s

Contributor/s

Justification

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Population

Population Trend

Major Threats

Conservation Actions