Limonium ramosissimum

Limonium ramosissimum, the Algerian sea lavender, is a species of sea lavender (Limonium) native to the Mediterranean region. Its specific epithet rāmōsissimum means "many-branched" in Latin.

Algerian sea-lavender
Plant on the island of Majorca, the Atlantic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Plumbaginaceae
Genus: Limonium
Species:
L. ramosissimum
Binomial name
Limonium ramosissimum
(Poir.) Maire

Ecological characteristics

As a halophyte, Limonium ramosissimum has the ability to tolerate a wide range of salt levels (salinity-tolerant) in the soil and also has the ability to actively lower the soil salinity by taking up and excreting salt through glands in the inflorescence, which are then free to break off and blow away.[1] This could have the effect of changing the species composition of an area by reducing salinity in the soil.

Invasive species

These plants are also very fecund, producing many seeds, and are also able to compete with native flora. It has escaped cultivation and become an invasive species in salt marshes of California.[2]

Subspecies
  • Limonium ramosissimum subsp. provinciale

References
  1. Page, M; Schroeder, S. (2007). "Ecology of the Exotic Sea Lavender Limonium ramosissimum in the salt marshes of southern California". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "CalFlora: Limonium ramosissimum". CalFlora. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
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