DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS BY 

 HABITATS 



Vegetation of Beaches 



Higher plants are confined to the extreme up- 

 per level of beaches. They grow in the sand, 

 at the base of dunes or moraines, among cobbles 

 and boulders or in the mass of plant debris de- 

 posited by storms. Only about 11 species of 

 plants are regularly abundant in this extreme 

 environment in southern New England. Many 

 of them are quite succulent, which is a common 

 characteristic of halophilic plants as well as 

 plants that grow in deserts. A tension zone ex- 

 ists between the beach and the uplands where 

 many common weedy plants will occur tempo- 

 rarily. The more common of these accidentals 

 have also been included in key (Figure numbers 

 refer to illustrations in the key) . 



1. Dominant beach plants: 



Cakile edentula (Bigel.) Hook., Sea 

 Rocket 

 Fig. 40. Southern Labrador to South 

 Carolina. Young tender leaves are good 

 as a green. Horseradish flavor. 



Arenaria peploides L. var. robusta Fern., 

 Sea Purslane 

 Fig. 34. Circumpolar species. Quebec 

 to Maryland. (Arctic coast has other 

 varieties. Seen on Hudson Bay.) 



Sahola, kali L., Saltwort 



Fig. 29. Southern Labrador to Georgia. 

 Variety caroliniana (Walt.) Nutt. also 

 occurs Massachusetts to Florida. 



Artemisia steUeriana Bess., Dusty 

 Miller, Silver King 

 Fig. 69. Gulf of St. Lawrence to Vir- 

 ginia. 



Lathyrus japotiicus Willd., Beach Pea 

 Fig. 53. Circumpolar species. The va- 

 rieties extend from Hudson Bay to New 

 Jersey. White variety rare. 



Polygonum glaucum Nutt., Seabeach 

 Knotweed 

 Fig. 83. Massachusetts to Georgia. 



Atriplex patula L. var. kastata (L.) Gray, 

 Orach 

 Fig. 35. Newfoundland south to South 

 Carolina. Tender leaves can be used as 

 a salad. 



Atriplex arenaria Nutt., Seabeach Orach 

 Fig. 36. Southern New Hampshire to 

 Texas. Tender leaves can be used as a 

 salad. 



Solidago sempervirens L., Seaside 

 Goldenrod 



Fig. 41. Newfoundland, Quebec to New 

 Jersey, locally to Virginia. Other va- 

 ieties to Florida, Texas, and Mexico. 



Xanthium echinatum Murr., Cockle- 



bur, Sea Burdock 

 Fig. 38. Nova Scotia to Virginia. 



Euphorbia polygonifolia L., Seaside 

 Spurge 

 Fig. 45. Prince Edward Island, east 

 New Brunswick to Georgia. 



Rare beach plants: 



Ligusticum scothicum L., Scotch 

 Lovage 

 Fig. 56. Greenland and Labrador to 

 southern New York. 

 Glaucitcm flavum Crantz., Horn or Sea 

 Poppy 

 Fig. 71. Southeastern Massachusetts 

 and eastern Rhode Island south to Vir- 

 ginia. 



Plants found growing on beaches, but not 

 restricted to this habitat (many weed spe- 

 cies) : 



Chenopodium album L., Pigweed or 

 Lamb's Quarters 

 Fig. 74. Cosmopolitan. Widespread 

 along coast. 

 Oenothera parviflora L. var. oakesiana 

 (Gates) Wieg., Small Flowering 

 Evening-Primrose 

 Fig. 79. Plymouth County, Mass., to 

 Northampton County, Va. Look for O. 

 humifusa Nutt. from New Jersey to 

 Florida. 0. biennis may also occur, as 

 it is widely distributed. 

 Convohmlus sepium L., Wild Morning 

 Glory 

 Fig. 58. Newfoundland to Florida and 

 Texas. 

 Achillea millefolium L., Yarrow 

 Fig. 68. Cosmopolitan. Widely distrib- 

 uted. The crushed leaves have a strong 

 disagreeable odor. If eaten by cattle 



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