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Achillea maritima
Also called Coastal Lavender Cotton
Achillea maritima is a woolly, evergreen perennial subshrub from Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal sand dunes and shingle, forming a silver-white cushion up to about 50 cm tall. It grows well in full sun, sharp drainage and poor sandy soil, and dislikes waterlogging.
Achillea maritima, commonly known as cottonweed or sea cottonweed, is an evergreen, woolly perennial subshrub in the family Asteraceae. The species is specialized to maritime environments, possessing physical adaptations to survive extreme coastal factors such as salt spray, shifting sand dune substrates, and high winds. It is widely distributed across the coastlines of the Mediterranean Basin, the Atlantic shores of Western Europe, the Canary Islands, and parts of the Black Sea and Caucasus.
The species is naturally found growing on maritime sand dunes, shingle beaches, and coastal sand bars. Its native range is highly expansive across the coastal zones of the subtropical and temperate Western Palearctic:
Achillea aegyptiaca · Yarrow · Sweet-Nancy · Fernleaf yarrow · Yarrow · Sneezewort · Yellow Milfoil
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Achillea maritima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
