GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED
Aristate:- With a bristle-like pointed axis.
Caespitose:- Tufted, growing in tight groups, the bases of individual plants
touching.
Capsule:- Dry fruit that opens when ripe. splitting from the apex to the base into
separate segments known as valves.
Ciliate:- Fringed with hairs - generally along the margin of a leaf, petal etc.
Glabrous:- Without hairs, hairless.
Filiform:- Thread-like; slender and parallel-sided.
Linear - Lanceolate:- Narrow, parallel-sided to lance-shaped:
Merous:- Having a specified number of parts: e.g. "pentamerous" = 5-merous
Mucro:- A sharp terminal point.
Mucronate:- Of or having a mucro; ending abruptly in a sharp point.
Mucronulate:- ending abruptly in a very short, stiff straight point.
Muticous:- Lacking a point or awn; blunt.
Obtuse:- Blunt, not pointed, ending in an angle of between 90 - 180o
Ovate:- Broad and rounded at the base and tapering toward the end.
Peduncle:- The stalk of an inflorescence or partial inflorescence.
Petal:- The inner perianth segments when they clearly differ from the outer.
Procumbent:- Trailing along the ground but not rooting.
Sepal:- A member of the outer perianth whorl in most flowers. The sepals
collectively make up the calyx.
SAGINA MARITIMA
Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE
Common Names:- Sea pearlwort
Synonyms:- Alsine maritima, Sagina apetala var. maritima, Sagina apetala
var. maritima.
Meaning:- Sagina (L) Fodder
Maritima (L) Marine, growing by or in the sea.
General description:- Annual, usually glabrous. with or without a central rosette of
leaves.
Stems:-
1) Main stem flowering, it and the numerous lateral branches varying from
Leaves:-
rarely ciliate.
Flowers:-
3) Petals minute, or absent.
Fruit:-
1) Ripe capsule, equalling or slightly shorter than the sepals.
2) Seeds usually more than 0·4 mm.
Key features:-
1) Leaves, muticous or very shortly mucronate.
2) Seeds, usually more than 0·4 mm.
Habitat:- Usually in maritime habitats, occasionally by vernal pools or in damp
sand along roads and tracks up to 500 m.
Distribution:- Widespread along Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, extending to
Norway, the Azores and Cyprus region. Scattered around the coastal areas of
Crete, not too common.
Flowering time:- Mar-May.
Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis
Very variable, many local species and subspecies having been described. All
combinations of characters may be found, and it is difficult to make any useful
subdivision.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
