Limoniastrum monopetalum

Branch and leaves of Limoniastrum monopetalum

Limoniastrum monopetalum is a small evergreen shrub,[2][3] that has long thread-like and tufted fine roots, with ephemeral roots that are produced in a wet season and then vanish afterwards. The wide spread of the roots helps the plant withstand the high salinity conditions and they can also travel down to at least 50 cm to reach the water table.[4]

It can grow up to 90–120 cm (35–47 in) tall,[5][6][7] with much branched,[6][7] and leafy stems.[5][8] They are terete (round in cross-section) and grey in colour.[5] The leaves are normally at the top of the branches, leaving the base of the branch, bare with leaf scars.[9]

It has light green,[10] green-grey,[11] or silvery blue-green,[7] leather-like,[8] stiff, narrowly spathulate (spoon-shaped) leaves.[12][11] They are covered with white granulations;[9] calcareous (carbonate deposits[9]) tubercles.[12] This gives the plant a whitish grey aspect.[12]

It blooms between mid-Spring and early Summer.[3][7] Variously; between March and November,[9] between July and August,[10] or June to August.[6] The numerous flowers,[7] come in shades of pink,[6][9] lavender pink,[13] purple-pink,[10][7] or lavender flowers.[3] As they die they fade to violet.[9][11]

They have articulated rachis (spine) and tubular[9] or funnel-shaped corolla (the petals of a flower),[8] they appear at the ends of the branches.[6][7][11] They have leathery bracts, the external sepals are 2.5–7 mm and the internal sepals are 7.5–9 mm long, scarious (dry and membranous), covered almost entirely by the internal bract. It also has 5 stamens.[9]

After flowering it produces a fruit (or seed capsule), which is membranous, indehiscent and included in the calyx.[9]

Limoniastrum monopetalum, Parque Natural Bahía de Cádiz, San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain

It is a halophyte plant,[8] and the leaves of Limoniastrum monopetalum have been studied to determine how the plants phenolic contents and biological activities coped with various solvent effects.[14][15]

In 2014, the salt excretion crystals on the leaf surface of the plant were studied as a possible metal detoxification mechanism.[16]

Illustration of Limoniastrum monopetalum by Sydenham Edwards in The Botanical Register

It is known in Mali as 'zeïta' and 'zita' in Arabic.[5] It is known in Spanish as 'Salado' or 'Verdolaga seca',[17] and in Catalan as 'Ajocagripaus'.[6]

It has the common name of 'Grand statice',[8][18] (reflecting the former name of the genus).

The Latin specific epithet monopetalum derived from 'monopetalus',[9] and refers to 'mono' and 'petal' meaning one petal.[19]

Using an earlier description by Carl Linnaeus when he had named it as Statice monopetala in his book Species Plantarum in 1753.[20] After the genus Statice was re-classified as 'Limoniastrum', it was then first published as Limoniastrum monopetalum (L.) Boiss by Pierre Edmond Boissier in 'Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis' Vol.12 on page 689 in 1848.[21]

It was verified by United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service on 9 August 1995, as Limoniastrum monopetalum,[22] and it is an RHS Accepted name and was last-listed in the RHS Plant Finder in 2016.[23]

Plants growing in the sand dunes, Ria Formosa in the Algarve, Portugal

Limoniastrum monopetalum is native to temperate areas between Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia.[22]

It appears on the list of plant species protected throughout mainland France.[31][32]

Close-up of the flowers, taken in Ibiza, Spain

L. monopetalum is hardy enough for a Mediterranean climate. It can take sporadic frosts down to -5 °C.[11] This means between USDA Zone 10a and Zone 11.[3]

They can grow in any type of soil, even in poor and salty soils,[7][11] and it grows well in sandy soils,[10] and can tolerate neutral or acidic soils (with pH levels between 6.6 and 7.8).[3]

It prefers to grow in positions in full sun,[11][7][3] but is very resistant to drought,[3][7] and pollution.[11]

It is suitable for coastal planting,[7][11] and they have been used in Mediterranean coastal gardens to cover slopes, planted in bushy groups and in pots and planters. They can combine well with plants of the genus; Cistus, Salvia, Rosmarinus, Eriocephalus and Bupleurum.[11] In the Baleares, it has been grown as a groundcover for motorway roadsides,[6] although in some littoral (near shore) areas it has become naturalized.[33]

They are not usually attacked by the usual Mediterranean pests and diseases.[11]

There is one known cultivar; Limoniastrum monopetalum 'Carnaval' which is an evergreen subshrub that forms a mound, and has fleshy, spoon-shaped to narrowly lance-shaped, grey-green leaves and magenta flowers that bloom from early summer to early autumn. It is frost hardy.[36][37]

Limoniastrum monopetalum is a traditional medicinal species which a leaf infusion exhibits anti-dysenteric properties against infectious diseases.[14][34] L. monopetalum and Limoniastrum guyonianum have been studied for antioxidant status.[27]

Limoniastrum monopetalum is used as fodder for camels,[5] especially during the winter.[38] It is also used in farms as a fuel source.[5]

The shrub is also an ecological habitat of a large number of insects such as Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera (including Oecocecis guyonella, Acalyptris limoniastri),as the larvae feed on the plant and they create a gall on a branch, in which to pupate.[27]

In southern Tunisia, these galls are used to tan leather and in the dyeing of hair.[34] They can also be used medically, an infusion (tea) of galls and the leaf is used against infectious or parasitic disease causing diarrhoea.[34][39]

Limoniastrum monopetalum is a potential plant to be used for xeriscaping,[3] and landscape architecture in semi-arid Mediterranean areas, especially with poor, saline, neglected or degraded soils. It also has ecological value, as a sand accumulator (using the roots), salt tolerant windbreak.[34]

• Castrviejo Bolibar, Santiago & al. (eds.), Iberian flora ... Vol.II Platanaceae-Plumbaginaceae, 1990

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