Salt Aerosoles<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nRooted in place, plants cannot escape salt aerosols carried ashore by onshore winds flowing over breaking waves. Salt aerosols are intense near the beach, and only salt-tolerant plants survive here. Onshore winds deliver salt aerosols in large quantities to the highest dunes closest to the ocean, and aerosols decrease with increasing distance from the beach. In shallow, open estuaries where winds can generate breaking waves, salt aerosols can be carried considerable distances inland by brisk winds. Thus, plants growing near estuaries, sounds, and lagoons must tolerate atmospheric salts as well as elevated soil salinity. Many of the plants described in this guide grow along the estuarine shoreline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coastal Carolina native plants vary in response to salt aerosols. Most coastal species exhibit some tolerance. Plants occupying open dunes are well adapted to salt aerosols, while other species occupying, say, the maritime forest floor have no tolerance to elevated salts in the atmosphere \u2014 or in the forest soil for that matter. Injury is proportional to the concentration of salt aerosols reaching the plant. Near the ocean, atmospheric salt concentrations are high; at a distance from the ocean, atmospheric salt aerosols are nominal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are telltale symptoms of salt-aerosol damage: reduced stem growth, browning on the tips and margins of leaves, thinning of the leaf crown, premature leaf fall, earlier coloration of leaves, and death of twigs on the windward side of a tree or shrub. These symptoms often gradually appear in landscapes as salts build up on plant leaves and twigs or in the surrounding soil. When plants are exposed to chronic salt aerosols, expect to see crown dieback, insect and fungal invasion, and plant mortality. Salt aerosol damage is intensified when the coastal Carolinas experience drought conditions or low humidity for an extended time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Selected plant profiles from <\/em>Seacoast Plants of the Carolinas<\/p>\n\n\n\nSea Rocket<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Cakile harperi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nPhoto by Paul E. Hosier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nFamily:<\/strong> Brassicaceae (Mustard)<\/li>\n\n\n\nOther Common Names:<\/strong> Southeastern sea rocket, American sea rocket<\/li>\n\n\n\nRange:<\/strong> Coastal: North Carolina south to Florida<\/li>\n\n\n\nHabitat:<\/strong> Wrack lines, dunes, and maritime grasslands<\/li>\n\n\n\nFlowing\/Fruiting Period:<\/strong> FL &FR April- June<\/li>\n\n\n\nWetland Status:<\/strong> Facultative Upland Plant<\/li>\n\n\n\nOrigin:<\/strong> Native<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nA member of the nearly ubiquitous Mustard family, sea rocket is a conspicuous plant of the wrack-line and foredune habitat of the Carolinas coast. During any given year, beach scraping, beach grooming, storm overwash, erosion, off-road vehicle use, and development may erase the ephemeral wrack lines occupied by sea rocket; however, extirpation of this resilient plant is not as likely as with seabeach amaranth, a species with an even narrower ecological niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sea rocket is the only large, common herbaceous plant growing near the foredunes. It is 6 to 20 inches tall with bright green, succulent stems and leaves. The smooth, glabrous, entire, or crenate leaves range from 1 to 3 inches long and 1\/2 to 1 1\/2 inches wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flowers are arranged in racemes that elongate as the fruits mature. The racemes often reach a length of 8 inches. Pale lavender to white flowers are 1\/4 inch across and possess 4 sepals and 4 petals. Bees, flies, beetles, moths, and butterflies pollinate the flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Botanically, the fruit of sea rocket is a silique distinguished by the presence of a horizontally transverse joint separating 2 seeds enclosed in a dry, corky, lightweight pod. The shape of the transverse joint is nearly flat; the fruit is 4-angled, and the top and bottom are similar in shape. The 1\/4-inch-long seeds are orange-tan to dark brown, laterally flattened, and ovoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lightweight and buoyant top seed breaks away from the plant and is dispersed by wind or water. The lower portion of the fruit typically remains on the plant and germinates in place if buried by sand accumulating around the dead stem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities consider sea rocket a \u201cwinter annual\u201d in the Carolinas coastal setting: seeds germinate in late summer or early fall and overwinter as small plants. During the following spring and continuing throughout the early summer, the plants flower, set seed, and die. North of the Carolinas, a closely related species, northeastern sea rocket (Cakile edentula<\/em>) reflects the typical annual habit of spring germination followed by summer flowering.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSea rocket requires full sun and well-drained sandy soil. It tolerates salt aerosols and low soil nutrients. A poor competitor, it occupies the sparsely vegetated wrack line with plants such as northern saltwort, seabeach amaranth, and northern seaside spurge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shape of the transverse joint in the fruit aids in differentiating between the two native coastal Carolina species of sea rocket. In northeastern sea rocket, the lower portion of the silique is deeply notched\u2014 clearly V-shaped\u2014and the upper portion is more rounded, almost balloon shaped. The ranges of the species overlap in northern North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marsh Pink<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Sabatia Stellaris<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nPhoto by Paul E. Hosier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\nFamily:<\/strong> Gentianiaceae (Gentian)<\/li>\n\n\n\nOther Common Names:<\/strong> Sea pink, salt marsh pink, annual sea pink<\/li>\n\n\n\nRange:<\/strong> Coastal: Massachusetts south to Florida and west to Louisiana<\/li>\n\n\n\nHabitat:<\/strong> Dune swales, maritime grasslands, and upper edges of brackish and salt marshes<\/li>\n\n\n\nHabit:<\/strong> Annual herb<\/li>\n\n\n\nFlowering\/Fruiting Period:<\/strong> FL July-September; FR August-November<\/li>\n\n\n\nWetland Status:<\/strong> Obligate Wetland Plant<\/li>\n\n\n\nOrigin:<\/strong> Native<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nWhile many plants flaunt attractive flowers with a single color, marsh pink displays a striking flower revealing petals with touches of pink, red, yellow, and white that create an interesting and attractive star-shaped center. Occasionally, this species grows in such profusion that the plants turn acres of maritime grasslands into a multicolored display of flowers swaying in the summer breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marsh pinks are 6 to 20 inches high with slender, erect, loosely branched stems. Leaves, ranging from 1\/2 to 2 inches long, are oppositely arranged, simple, entire, glabrous, and sessile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each flower grows on a single pedicel. The 1-inch-wide flowers have 5 short sepals and 5 petals. The stamens and style are yellow. Bumblebees and other small bees such as sweat bees pollinate flowers. Each fruiting capsule contains about 100 tiny black or brown seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marsh pink is salt tolerant and commonly associated with brackish environments. It frequently grows amid sea ox-eye, sea lavender, saltmeadow cordgrass, dune finger grass, beach blanket-flower, saltmarsh fimbristylis, and southern seaside goldenrod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plant provides nectar for pollinating insects, and various herbivorous insects feed on parts of the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Propagation is only by seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, the plant is not commercially available. Collect seeds only where marsh pink is growing in abundance; avoid overcollecting and depleting the annual seed crop. The seeds are tiny, tiny, tiny; just a few seed capsules will generate a lot of seeds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marsh pink is either \u201cendangered\u201d or \u201cthreatened\u201d in states at the northern limits of its range (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York). This is due, in part, to the expansion of the invasive species common reed into habitats occupied by marsh pink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Occasionally, we find a similar species, perennial sea pink (Sabatia dodecandra<\/em>), in brackish or freshwater marshes in the coastal Carolinas. Its flowers are twice as large and have 9 to 11 petals.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSea oats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Uniola paniculata<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by Paul E. Hosier<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nFamily:<\/strong> Poaceae (Grass)<\/li>\n\n\n\nRange:<\/strong> Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas and Mexico; also Bahamas and Cuba<\/li>\n\n\n\nHabitat:<\/strong> Dunes and dune swales<\/li>\n\n\n\nHabit:<\/strong> Perennial graminold<\/li>\n\n\n\nFlowering\/Fruiting Period:<\/strong> FL June-July; FR July-November<\/li>\n\n\n\nWetland Status:<\/strong> Facultative Upland Plant<\/li>\n\n\n\nOrigin:<\/strong> Native<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nSea oats is a botanical superhero. It can survive rapid sand burial, drought, high winds, salt aerosols, saltwater inundation, high temperatures, and full sun, so it is uniquely adapted to the Carolinas coastal dunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sea oats, a warm-season grass, thrives in a range of shore habitats ranging from the wrack line landward to the seaward edge of shrub thickets and maritime forests. In fact, it rarely occurs inland from the coastal dunes. The plant is the principal dune-building and sand-binding grass of the southeastern United States. It is planted extensively to stabilize sand along shorelines disrupted or eroded by natural or human changes, such as by hurricanes or development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sea oats is a coarse rhizomatous plant with an extensive network of near-surface roots complemented by deep, sand-binding roots. Culms arise from the rhizomes that extend laterally and root at nodes when buried by sand. Sea oats tolerates sand burial up to 3 feet per year, with stem growth and tillering stimulated by this burial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The glaucous green leaves gracefully arch upward from their underground origin, and the tips return to the sandy surface in a seemingly unorganized fashion. Sea oats leaves grow up to 24 inches long and 1\/4 to 1\/2 inch wide and have a long, tapered point. During protracted drought, leaves roll inward, forming long tubes that reduce water loss through the stomata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sea oats inflorescence is the most familiar and striking feature of the plant. It is composed of dozens of spikelets crowded at the top of 3- to 6-foot culms. The spikelets are flat, 1\/2 to 1 1\/2 inches long, 1\/2 inch wide, and composed of 10 to 20 florets. During their maturation, sea oat spikelets turn from blue-green to golden brown. Most flowers do not produce seeds, and research scientists report that spikelets average fewer than 2 seeds each. Spikelets persist on the culms well into the winter. Over time, wind, water currents, and animals disseminate the spikelets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Birds and small mammals, such as song sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and mice, consume seeds not quickly buried by blowing sand. Seeds usually remain in the spikelet, as evidenced by the presence of a spikelet almost always entwined by the roots of each germinating seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The primary method of reproduction is vegetative growth through rhizome extension and bud formation. Vegetative vigor and flowering of sea oats decrease noticeably in the absence of sand accretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plant grows poorly in habitats with a high water table or continuously saturated soils. Human impacts such as trampling, off-road vehicle use, and urbanization harm the growth and development of sea oats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is illegal to collect plants or inflorescences of sea oats in most municipalities in North Carolina and South Carolina without a permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sea oats is available from dune plant growers in the coastal Carolinas. Plugs should be planted in spring or early fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read a Q&A with Paul E. Hosier here<\/a>, and listen to his interview with Mike Moore on Rockingham County Radio here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis article was published in the Summer 2018 issue<\/a> of <\/em>Coastwatch.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Excerpts from Seacoast Plants of the Carolinas: A New Guide for Plant Identification and Use in the Coastal Landscape Copyright \u00a9 2018 by North Carolina State University. Used by permission…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":10238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"Paul E. Hosier","ncst_show_custom_author":true,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"custombg_one\",\"caption\":\"Blanket-flowers bring color to the coastal landscape. Photo by Gary Allen\",\"displayCategoryID\":710,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[660,598,710],"tags":[],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[1423],"class_list":["post-10179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-660","category-coastal-landscapes-and-plant-life","category-summer-2018"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":710,"name":"Summer 2018","slug":"summer-2018","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":711,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":660,"count":10,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Thriving in Sun, Salt and Sand - Coastwatch<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n