LAX-FLOWERED SEA-LAVENDER
LAX SEA-LAVENDER
Limonium humile
Thrift [Plumbaginaceae] 
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Thrift [Plumbaginaceae]
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| 19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| Flowering stems not as densely populated with flowers as Common Sea-Lavender. |
| 19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| Un-upened flowers look like short purple-headed matches. |
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| 19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers are scattered fairly sparsely along all the branches. |
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| 19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
| Flowers lilac at the tip, with paperish white sheaths, and pink bands. Flowers are spread all along the flowering stem, un-like those on Common Sea-Lavender. |
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| 19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
| The clincher between this and Common Sea-Lavender are the purple-brown coloured anthers, yellow on the latter. |
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| 19th Aug 2010, salt-marshes, Lytham, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers don't seem to open as wide on Lax-flowered Sea-lavender than they do on Common Sea-Lavender. |
| Lax-flowered Sea-lavender (left) + Common Sea-lavender (right) direct comparison. |
| 19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves of Lax-flowered Sea-lavenderare narrower and perhaps a lighter shade of green, the flowers more separated and here opening after those of the Common Sea-lavender. |
| 19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The stems are sometimes angular. At each bifurcation of the stem is a short, pointed and reddish brown (green in Common Sea-Lavender) bracts. |
| 19th July 2007, the North shores of Walney Island, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The leaves are narrower than those of Common Sea-Lavender |
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Easily confused with : other Sea-lavenders such as Common Sea-Lavender which has broader leaves and flowers more clustered together. The stems of Lax-flowered Sea-lavender are often angular. Can also be confused with Rock sea-lavender, which is very variable, being split into 22 slightly differing plants: 6 species and 16 subspecies, mostly identifiable only by experts and by specific location. There is also a Matted Sea-lavender but that only occurs in the Wash estuary, mainly now on the north Norfolk coastline. Hybridises with : Common Sea-Lavender (Limonium vulgare) to produce Limonium × neumanii, but whether or not the above specimen is one such is un-known; they both grow in the same hectad.
No relation to : Lax-flowered sea-lavender is much less ubiquitous than is Common Sea-Lavender and is classed as scarce, being found in less that 100 hectad squares. ANY TEXT GOES HERE |
 Limonium (Sea-Lavenders) |
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Thrift [Plumbaginaceae]
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