Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


Home	About NPWRC	Our Science	Staff	Employment	Contacts	Common Questions	About the Site

Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Saltmarsh Bird's-beak
Cordylanthus maritimus Nutt. ex Benth.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Figwort (Scrophulariaceae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: This species differs from all others in the genus by its simple leaves, by its bracts which are toothless or have only shallow lobes, and by the petals shorter than the sepals.
Habitat: Salt marshes, alkaline meadows, hot springs.
Habit: Annual herb with yellow roots.
Stems: Upright or spreading, much branched, up to 20 inches tall, sticky-hairy to nearly smooth.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, oblong, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, up to 1 inch long, pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, bluish green, hairy or occasionally nearly smooth, usually without teeth.
Flowers: Crowded in terminal spikes, the flowers subtended by bracts that appear sepal like; bracts without teeth or only shallowly lobed, narrowly oblong, bluish green, up to 1 inch long.
Sepals: United to form a single structure split nearly to the base, 1/2-1 inch long, green, notched at the tip.
Petals: 5, united to form 2 lips, 3/4-1 inch across, white or yellow, striped with purple or red, and tipped with yellow, pink, or purple, minutely hairy on the back.
Stamens: 4, attached to the petals, the anthers with a tuft of hairs at the base.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Fruits: Capsules ellipsoid, 1/3-1/2 inch long; seeds up to 1/16 inch long, curved, brown.
Notes: The increasing rarity of this species along the coast has necessitated it being listed as a Federally endangered species. The plants that occur in the great Basin (var. canescens), which have usually toothless bracts and capsules w

Previous Species -- Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense )
Return to Species List -- Group 8
Next Species -- Brassbuttons (Cotula coronopifolia)

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/8/cordmari.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:27:48 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]