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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE LEADWORT FAMILY | |||||||||
| Saskatchewan has only one representative of the leadwort family. Overall, this is a small family with only 775 species. These plants are usually perennial herbs or shrubs. The underground structures are either taproots or rhizomes. The stems may have alternate leaves or all the leaves are basal. The flowers are in terminal or axillary clusters. The clusters may be head-like or linear in shape. The involucre, or whorl of bracts below the inflorescence, is usually present. The five sepals stay on the plant even into the fruiting stage. The petals are nearly distinct and are fused to the stamens. | |||||||||
| INTERIOR SEAPINK | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Armeria maritima ssp. interior | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Interior seapink grows up to 60 cm tall. The leaves are all basal and are generally less than 5 cm long and between 2 to 3 mm wide. The inflorescence is a head and has rows of bracts, with the outer row more than half as long as the inner ones. The sepals are hairless. The petals can be white or pink and can be longer or shorter than the sepals. The fruit is a capsule which opens like a lid at or below the middle. Each capsule contains two reddish-brown seeds. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Interior seapink grows on barren gravel ridges in sand dunes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in northwestern Saskatchewan in the Athabasca Plain ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Interior seapink is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare and highly regionally restricted. This subspecies is known only from the Lake Athabasca region and is almost always locally sparse. No immediate threats are known for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY INTERIOR SEAPINK | |||||||||
| * Are the leaves all basal? * Are the flowers in a head? * Are the flowers pink to whitish? * Did you find in northwestern Saskatchewan? |
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| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found interior seapink! | |||||||||
