Limoniastrum monopetalum (L.) Boiss.
Diagnostic description:
A hairless, much branched, hairless perennial, with leafy stems up to 1m tall, though usually less. Leaves fleshy, silvery, glaucous, oblong-lanceolate to linear-spathulate, 1 to 8 cm long, covered with white scales, with a sheath clasping the stems at their base. Flowers borne in a series of 1 to 2-flowered spikelets up the stem. Calyx 7 to 10 mm long, 5-toothed, covered by 3 overlapping bracts. Corolla from almost white to bright pink or violet, 1 to 2 cm long, longer than the calyx, about 1.5 cm across; petals with 5 rounded, spreading lobes.
Distribution:
local:Introduced in Gibraltar as an ornamental at Europa Point.
Global: Found throughout Southern Europe and Northern Africa.
Ecology:
Flowers between May to October
Habitat:
A plant of the littoral, and salt marshes.