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Oysterleaf

Mertensia maritima

Also called Sea Lungwort, Oysterplant, Northern Shorewort, Sea Bluebells, Sea Mertensia, Sea Bugloss, Seaside Bluebells

Oysterleaf
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Dlanglois assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0

Oysterleaf is a low perennial herb of cold sea shores in the Northern Hemisphere, growing in gravel and shingle near the highest winter tides. It is grown mainly as a novelty or for coastal and cold-climate gardens, and it needs cold, moist, well-drained conditions to thrive.

Family
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist during the growing season and let the top layer dry a little between waterings; avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Gritty, sandy or gravelly mix with some organic matter, well drained.
Temperature
Hardy to cold; thrives in cool summers and tolerates freezing winters (it needs a cold period to germinate). Protect potted plants from heat above about 25 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Subarctic to NE. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

Mertensia maritima is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, and is known by the common names oyster leaf in North America, oyster plant in the British Isles, and sea bluebells.

It is restricted to gravelly sea shores, usually within reach of the highest winter tides in the Northern Hemisphere, reaching north to the northern parts of Canada, Greenland and Svalbard.

Other Mertensia plants

Tall fringed bluebells · Tall bluebells · Virginia bluebells

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mertensia 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.

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