LAX-FLOWERED SEA-LAVENDER

LAX SEA-LAVENDER

Limonium humile

Thrift Family [Plumbaginaceae]

month8jul month8july month8aug month8sep month8sept

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8mauve flower8lilac
flower
flower8blue
inner
inner8cream
inner
inner8blue
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ5
type
typeZtrumpet
stem
stem8round
stem
stem8angular
rarity
rarityZuncommon

19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Flowering stems not as densely populated with flowers as Common Sea-Lavender. Up to 30cm tall.


19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Un-upened flowers look like short purple-headed matches.


19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are scattered fairly sparsely along all the branches.


19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. Photo: © RWD
Flowers lilac at the tip, with paperish white sheaths, and pink bands. Flowers are spread all along the flowering stem, un-like those on Common Sea-Lavender.


19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. Photo: © RWD
The clincher between this and Common Sea-Lavender are the purple-brown coloured anthers, yellow on the latter.


19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. Photo: © RWD
The flowers don't seem to open as wide on Lax-flowered Sea-lavender than they do on Common Sea-Lavender.


10th Oct 2015, salt-marshes, Marshside, Sefton Coast, Merseyside. Photo: © RWD
Flowers with 5 stamens with purple anthers, 5 styles and 5 petals.


A DIRECT COMPARISON

Lax-flowered Sea-lavender (left)
with
Common Sea-lavender (right)
19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The leaves of Lax-flowered Sea-lavender are narrower and perhaps a lighter shade of green, the flowers more separated and here opening after those of the Common Sea-lavender.


19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The stems are sometimes angular. At each bifurcation of the stem is a short, pointed and reddish brown (green in Common Sea-Lavender) bracts.


19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The leaves are narrower than those of Common Sea-Lavender


Easily confused with : other Sea-lavenders such as Common Sea-Lavender which has broader leaves and flowers more clustered together. The stems of Lax-flowered Sea-lavender are often angular. Can also be confused with Rock sea-lavender, which is very variable, being split into 22 slightly differing plants: 6 species and 16 subspecies, mostly identifiable only by experts and by specific location. There is also a Matted Sea-lavender but that only occurs in the Wash estuary, mainly now on the north Norfolk coastline.

Hybridizes with : Common Sea-Lavender (Limonium vulgare) to produce Limonium × neumanii, but whether or not the above specimen is one such is un-known; they both grow in the same hectad.

No relation to : Lavender nor to Lavender-cotton [plants with similar names belonging to differing Families].

Lax-flowered sea-lavender is much less ubiquitous than is Common Sea-Lavender and is classed as scarce, being found in less that 100 hectad squares.

Grows in salt-marshes like Common Sea-lavender, but is rarer than that, [R]. Present mainly in the west of England on the Lancashire and Cumbrian coasts, North Wales coasts, around Portsmouth, north Norfolk coast, and many parts of the coast of Ireland. It is, of course, salt tolerant.


  Limonium humile  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Plumbaginaceae  

Distribution
 family8Thrift family8Plumbaginaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Limonium
Limonium
(Sea-lavenders)

LAX-FLOWERED SEA-LAVENDER

LAX SEA-LAVENDER

Limonium humile

Thrift Family [Plumbaginaceae]

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