Leadwort Family (Plumbaginaceæ)
Seaside plants with perfect, regular flowers in one-sided racemes or spikes; five-parted and with plaited calyx.
Marsh Rosemary; Sea Lavender (Limonium carolinianum) is a very characteristic plant of the seashore; it is found very commonly in salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to Florida, and along the Gulf of Texas.
The plant has a thick, woody, very astringent root, from which grows a single naked stalk. This stem divides into numerous branches and branchlets, all destitute of leaves and spreading out so that the appearance of the whole plant is that of a very diminutive tree. The leaves all radiate from the root at the base of the flower stalk; they are spatulate-shaped, thick, almost smooth-edged, and are on long stems.
At the end of each branchlet is a slender one-sided raceme of tiny buds. From July until September these open out into tiny lavender flowers with five tiny petals, each coming from a five-toothed, ribbed calyx.