Boraginaceae: Mertensia maritima (L.) S.F. Gray
(oysterleaf, sea lungwort)
A very distinctive species of sandy or cobble beaches by the sea, oysterleaf has succulent, glaucous, blue-green leaves and small, 5 pointed, bell-like, pink to blue flowers. It has a prostrate (ground-hugging) growth habit, forming small to large trailing colonies. One to many leafy cymose flowering shoots grow outwards from the crown of the root system. Flowering occurs mid-June to August. It is a perennial; aboveground parts die back during the winter.
M. maritima is a northern spcies, occurring from Cape Cod northwards to Baffin island on the east coast and British Columbia northwards on the west coast including Alaska, also on Greenland coasts and coasts of northern Europe. The genus is named after botanist Franz Carl Mertens.
Sources | Selected Web Resources
Click on images for larger versions.
| July 9, 2006. Halifax County: Conrad Beach (Eastern Shore). Photographer: JackPine. | |
 Colony on rubble beach. |
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 Flowering shoot. The glaucous nature of the leaves and stem is readily visible. |
 Bar is 1 cm. |
Selected Web Resources
- Taxonomic Status (ITIS) Copy the species name above and paste it into a form on this ITIS Canada page to confirm the nomenclature and list synonyms.
- NatureServe Explorer Copy the species name above and paste it into a form on this page to view a map of its distribution within North America and its conservation status by province and state.
Page posted 6 Dec. 2007. Modified 7 Dec. 2008.
Copyright © Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society & Photographers