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Saltmarsh bird's-beak

Chloropyron maritimum

Also called Salt Marsh Bird's Beak

Saltmarsh bird's-beak
Photo: Gordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart, Public domain

Saltmarsh bird's-beak is a rare, low-growing annual hemiparasite of western North America that lives in salt marshes and salt flats. It is a challenging plant to grow because it needs a host plant's roots and salty, moist conditions, so it is seldom cultivated.

Family
Orobanchaceae (Orobanch family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist, as it grows in tidal and saline wetland conditions.
Soil
Saline or sandy, well-drained mineral soil with salt-tolerant host plants nearby.
Temperature
Mild to warm conditions suited to a subtropical climate; not recommended for frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
W. U.S.A. to Mexico (N. Baja California)
Climate
subtropical

About

Chloropyron maritimum is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae native to western North America. It is known by the common names saltmarsh bird's beak and Point Reyes bird's beak, depending on the specific subspecies.

Where it grows

It is native to the Western and Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from southern Oregon to Baja California. This is a halophyte which grows in areas of high salt concentrations, including coastal salt marshes and the inland salt flats of the Great Basin. It is hemiparasitic, such that it is greenish and has chlorophyll but also parasitizes other plants by inserting haustoria into their roots to tap nutrients.

Other Chloropyron plants

Soft Bird's Beak

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chloropyron maritimum 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.

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