Salt-Marsh Pink

This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, we’re taking a glance at a native wildflower that’s endemic to our Saltmarsh. This week the subject is the Salt-Marsh Pink (Sabatia stellaris).

The Salt-Marsh Pink (also called the Rose-of-Plymouth, Sea Pink, or Marsh Pink) inhabits salt marshes along the east coast from Louisiana to Massachusetts. It’s an annual plant with opposite leaves in the highly diverse Pink family, Caryophyllaceae. They bloom from the middle of spring until the end of summer. Their flower is a five-petaled pastel pink bloom with a vibrant violet and gold star surrounding its pistol and stamens. This central star is where it gets the specific epithet “stellaris”.

Salt-Marsh Pinks are one of only a handful of wildflowers that can be found blooming deep in our saltmarsh. It grows best in the highest marsh where the tidal influence is felt only on the king tides. It can be found in the salt meadows surrounding the saltmarsh growing amongst Carolina Sealavender, Perennial and Annual Saltmarsh Asters, Bristlegrass, and Fimbry.

Originally posted 5/4/2018

Tom Austin