Batis maritima

Batis maritima SALTWORT, BEACHWORT

Higher Taxonomy

Family: Bataceae

Common Name: SALTWORT FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, subshrub, salt-tolerant; dioecious [monoecious]. Leaf: simple, opposite, sessile, +- cylindric or +- 3-angled, narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate or linear, fleshy, base with triangular appendage, margins entire; stipules minute. Inflorescence: dense, cone- or spike-like, axillary, +- sessile; flowers unisexual. Staminate Flower: 8--12, +- free, 4-ranked, subtended by +- widely ovate bract and involucre- or sac-like bractlets; calyx +- bilateral, cup- or bell-shaped, blunt-lobed; petals 4(5), alternate stamens; stamens 4(5), > petals, anthers opening by longitudinal slits. Pistillate Flower: (2)4--12(24), free or fused, subtended by small bractlet, << flower; perianth 0; ovary superior, fleshy, chambers 4, ovule 1 per chamber, stigma 2-lobed, +- spheric, sessile. Fruit: drupe or drupe-like aggregate, floating. Seed: 1--4. Chromosomes: n=11.
Genera In Family: 1 genus, 2 species: coastal, tropics, subtropical America, Pacific, Australia. Note: Staminate perianth variously interpreted as tepals, petals, or staminodes.
eFlora Treatment Author: Steve Boyd & William J. Stone
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Genus: Batis

View Description

Etymology: (Greek: name of a seashore plant) Note: Batis argillicola P. Royen of New Guinea, northeastern Australia is monoecious.

Batis maritima L.

NATIVE
Stem: prostrate to ascending, < 1.5 m; base woody. Leaf: (0.5)1--2 cm, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, +- cylindric, +- flattened above. Inflorescence: staminate +- 6 mm, ovoid-cylindric, bracts or bractlets rounded; pistillate +- 6 mm, cylindric (obconic) in fruit; flowers fused in age. Staminate Flower: petals white, blade +- triangular, clawed, stamens exserted. Fruit: +- 10 mm, fleshy, spongy or corky in age.
Ecology: Coastal salt marshes; Elevation: < 10 m. Bioregional Distribution: SCo; Distribution Outside California: to southeastern United States, Caribbean, northern South America; Hawaii. Flowering Time: Apr--Sep
Jepson eFlora Author: Steve Boyd & William J. Stone
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Batis
Next taxon: Berberidaceae

Botanical illustration including Batis maritima

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Citation for this treatment: Steve Boyd & William J. Stone 2012, Batis maritima, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=15519, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.

No expert verified images found for Batis maritima.

Geographic subdivisions for Batis maritima: SCo	MAP CONTROLS 1. You can change the display of the base map layer control box in the upper right-hand corner. 2. County and Jepson Region polygons can be turned off and on using the check boxes.

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).	Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window. Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location. Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues. READ ABOUT YELLOW FLAGS CCH collections by month Duplicates counted once; synonyms included. Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA. Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).