Habit: (Annual) [perennial herb] to shrub, generally with rhizome; glands salt-secreting. Stem: prostrate to erect, nodes swollen, generally rooting. Leaf: opposite, 4-ranked, united by a single sheath, +- clustered, simple, 1--15 mm, salt-encrusted, generally persistent; blade obovate to oblong-oblanceolate or elliptic, generally leathery or fleshy, glabrous to hairy, margin entire, rolled under; stipules 0. Inflorescence: generally cyme, axillary. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; calyx persistent, sepals 4--7, fused, ribbed; petals 4--7, free, white to pink or blue-purple, overlapping, clawed, with adaxial scale-like appendage near base; stamens 3--12(25), 2-whorled, outer whorl shorter; ovary superior, chambers 1--4, styles 1--4, exserted, ovules 1--many. Fruit: loculicidal capsule within persistent calyx. Seed: 1--many, ivory to gold-brown.
Species In Genus: 90 species: especially coastal and semi-arid regions; soils high in salt, gypsum, or calcium. Etymology: (Johann Frankenius, 1590--1661, Swedish botanist)
Jepson eFlora Author: Carrie Kiel & R. John Little
Reference: Whalen 1987 Syst Bot Monogr 17:1--93
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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List of species Frankenia palmeri Frankenia pulverulenta Frankenia salina

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