Suaeda maritimaAnnual Seablite

Suaeda maritima, the Annual Seablite, is a low branching halophyte of tidal saltmarsh with small cylindrical fleshy leaves that turn red and purple as the season closes. It does not merely tolerate salt, it requires it, and it colonises bare saline mud where nothing else establishes.

It is used in saltmarsh restoration, constructed tidal wetlands and saline soil remediation, and is scheduled as a restoration species rather than an ornamental.

Specifications

• Height0.15 to 0.6 metres
• Width0.2 to 0.5 metres
• Native toCoastal saltmarshes across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America
• FoliageSmall, cylindrical, fleshy blue-green leaves reddening through autumn; annual
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilRequires saline coastal muds and sands and tolerates tidal waterlogging
• LightFull sun
• WaterModerate to high; grows in tidally inundated ground
• ClimateThrives in temperate to subtropical coastal saltmarsh and sabkha conditions

Additional Features

• FormLow branching annual, sprawling to upright depending on exposure
• UsesIdeal for saltmarsh restoration, tidal and constructed wetland margins and saline soil remediation
• SpacingPlant 0.2 to 0.3 metres apart, or establish from seed across a restoration area
• Low MaintenanceSelf-seeds and re-establishes annually with no intervention
• Pest ResistanceGenerally free of pests in its specialised habitat
• Salt ToleranceAn obligate halophyte that requires saline ground to perform
• Erosion ControlStabilises bare saline mud in the pioneer zone of a marsh

Annual Seablite is a specialist restoration plant for saline ground, and outside that role it has little to offer a designed landscape.