Field Guide to Tidal Wetland Plants of the Northeastern United States and Neighboring Canada: Vegetation of Beaches, Tidal Flats, Rocky Shores, Marshes, Swamps, and Coastal Ponds

Plants of Coastal Beaches

Plants of Coastal Beaches 120 Plants of Coastal Beaches 40. Sand Dune Sandbur Cenchrus tribuloides L. Grass Family Poaceae Description: Low annual grass typically less than 1 foot tall, bearing spiny burs; stems trailing or with base lying flat on ground (prostrate) or nearly so, and then becoming erect, nodes prominent; flat leaves (to 44 ⁄5 inches long) with conspicuous hairy and overlapping sheaths with long hairs at top (sheath may move away from stem and appear as part of ascending leaf); spikelets within dense spiny burs borne in spikelike terminal inflorescence (raceme, to 2 inches long), somewhat roundish spiny burs (about 1 ⁄3 inch wide) covered with long hairs. Flowering period: July into October. Habitat: Upper edges of sandy coastal beaches; sand dunes and sandy soils along coast. Wetland indicator status: UPL. Range: Maine to Florida and Louisiana (rare in NY). Similar species: Long-spined Sandbur (C. longispinus (Hack.) Fern.) occurs on beaches, river flats, and dry sandy soils; it is quite similar but can be separated from Sand Dune Sandbur by its burs that have the tips of their spikelets exposed (as compared with rarely exposed in C. tribuloides) and it has 45 or more slender spines per bur (no more than 40 spines with broad bases in C. tribuloides); UPL; Maine to Florida (rare in NH). 41. Russian Thistle or Saltwort Salsola kali L. Goosefoot Family Chenopodiaceae Description: Low to medium-height, erect, fleshy and prickly annual herb, 1 to 3 feet tall (usually around 1 foot); stems smooth or hairy, often marked with red or purplish vertical lines; simple, entire, fleshy, prickly leaves (to 2 inches long), lower leaves somewhat cylinder-shaped, upper leaves shorter and stiff, with long-spined tip (more prominent than in the illustration), alternately arranged; small green flowers borne singly or in twos or threes on short spike from axils of upper leaves. Note: Leaves turn red in the fall, while stems become red-striped. Flowering period: June to October. Habitat: Sandy coastal beaches, upper edges of irregularly flooded salt marshes, sometimes on top of tidal wrack (vegetation debris—leaves and stems), open sand flats (washes) in salt marshes, and in salt pannes. Wetland indicator status: FACU. Range: Newfoundland along the Coastal Plain to Florida and Texas; native of Eurasia. HErbS wiTH SOME PArTS ArMED wiTH SPiNES Or STiFF PriCkLES 40. Sand Dune Sandbur  1  1  1 ⁄2 Long-spined Sandbur 41. Russian Thistle 122 Plants of Coastal Beaches 42. Beach Cocklebur or Beach Clotsbur Xanthium strumarium L. Aster Family Asteraceae Description: Low to medium-height annual herb (to 3 feet or more, usually shorter on beaches); rough, hairy, erect to ascending, branched stems, often with purple markings; very broad, somewhat heart-shaped, three- to five-lobed, coarse-toothed leaves (upper leaves around 31 ⁄2 inches wide and long, lower leaves twice that or more in size) borne on soft-hairy, long stalks, alternately arranged; inconspicuous greenish flowers borne in heads from leaf axils; two-parted, cylindrical to oval-shaped, green bur fruit (to 12 ⁄5 inches long) covered with fine hairs and curved bristlelike prickles, bearing thick nutlets (achenes). Flowering period: July into October. Habitat: Sandy coastal beaches; inland beaches, floodplains, fields, and waste places. Wetland indicator status: FAC. Range: Maine to Florida and Texas and through much of North America and into the tropics. Similar species: Spiny Cocklebur (X. spinosum L.), a less common relative typical of waste places, has a stem with three-parted spines at the nodes and its lance-shaped leaves are white- to gray-hairy beneath; FACU; Quebec and New brunswick to Florida. Greater burdock (Arctium lappa L.), a Eurasian weedy species ranging from Maryland and Delaware north, has been reported in St. Lawrence tidal marshes; it has grooved leaf stalks, broad entire leaves often with somewhat heart-shaped to rounded bases and hairy undersides, and purplish somewhat thistlelike flower heads (to 1 3 ⁄5 inch wide) subtended by a bristly roundish structure (receptacle) and borne on long stalks; July–October; UPL. Two weedy vines reported from tidal freshwater wetlands have prickly fruits and mostly five-lobed leaves. One-seeded bur Cucumber (Sicyos angulatus L.) is a herbaceous vine with sticky-haired stems, five-lobed greenish-white flowers (1 ⁄5 inch wide) borne on long stalks, and oval-shaped spiny fruits (to 3 ⁄5 inch long) in clusters; July–September; FACU; Maine to Florida. Prickly Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & Gray) has small greenish-white...