Print Report
CEGL003286 Glaux maritima Salt Marsh
Type Concept Sentence: Tidal salt marshes dominated by Glaux maritima.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Sea-milkwort Salt Marsh
Colloquial Name: Sea-milkwort Salt Marsh
Hierarchy Level: Association
Type Concept: This community is a salt marsh emergent herbaceous type in tidally-influenced wetlands associated with estuaries, lagoons, and bays and behind sand pits. It is known from the Pacific coast of British Columbia and Washington and is characterized by areas that flood infrequently and dominated by medium-tall halophytes such as Glaux maritima, with and without other species such as Distichlis spicata, Poa secunda, Plantago eriopoda, and Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis.
Diagnostic Characteristics: Dense cover of Glaux maritima in a tidally-influenced salt marsh or estuary.
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: There is no description for the Glaux maritima association from Washington, but there is an excellent description of where this community lies within the ecological system ~Temperate Pacific Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh (CES200.091)$$.
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Low-statured succulent herbaceous growth with heights of 0.1 to 1 m.
Floristics: These low and high salt marshes are dominated by Glaux maritima, often with Deschampsia cespitosa, Distichlis spicata, Ruppia maritima, Argentina egedii, Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis (= Juncus balticus var. montanus), Salicornia depressa (= Salicornia virginica), and Symphyotrichum subspicatum (= Aster subspicatus).
Dynamics: Daily flooding by saltwater maintains this community.
Environmental Description: This association is confined to specific environments defined by ranges of salinity, tidal inundation regime, and soil texture. It is primarily associated with estuaries, coastal lagoons and bays, and behind sand spits or other locations protected from wave action. Patches usually occur as zonal mosaics of multiple communities. Stands vary in location and abundance with daily and seasonal dynamics of freshwater input balanced against evaporation and tidal flooding of saltwater. Summer-dry periods result in decreased freshwater inputs and thus higher salinity levels. Stands can be in the high marsh area with less than daily flooding, or can be found at the lowest edge of the marsh that receives daily, even multiple daily, inundation by saltwater.
Geographic Range: It is known from the Pacific coast of British Columbia and Washington.
Nations: CA,US
States/Provinces: BC, WA
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.685968
Confidence Level: Low
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G3
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class | C02 | 2 |
| Subclass | 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass | S44 | 2.C |
| Formation | 2.C.5 Salt Marsh Formation | F035 | 2.C.5 |
| Division | 2.C.5.Nc Temperate & Boreal Pacific Coastal Salt Marsh Division | D035 | 2.C.5.Nc |
| Macrogroup | 2.C.5.Nc.1 North American Pacific Coastal Salt Marsh Macrogroup | M081 | 2.C.5.Nc.1 |
| Group | 2.C.5.Nc.1.a Lyngbye''s Sedge - Cosmopolitan Bulrush - Sea-milkwort Salt Marsh Group | G499 | 2.C.5.Nc.1.a |
| Alliance | A3902 Pacific Swampfire - California Cordgrass - Sea-milkwort Salt Marsh Alliance | A3902 | 2.C.5.Nc.1.a |
| Association | CEGL003286 Sea-milkwort Salt Marsh | CEGL003286 | 2.C.5.Nc.1.a |
Concept Lineage: Upgraded to Standard during screening.
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Glaux maritima Herbaceous Vegetation [Provisional] (G3) (Rocchio and Crawford 2008)
? Salicornia virginiana - Glaux maritima (MacKenzie and Moran 2004)
? Salicornia virginiana - Glaux maritima (MacKenzie and Moran 2004)
- MacKenzie, W. H., and J. R. Moran. 2004. Wetlands of British Columbia: A guide to identification. Land Management Handbook No. 52. Research Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Lands, Victoria, BC. 287 pp.
- Rocchio, J., and R. Crawford. 2008. Field guide to Washington''s ecological systems. Draft 5 March 2008. Washington Natural Heritage Program, Olympia.
- WNHP [Washington Natural Heritage Program]. 2018. Unpublished data files. Washington Natural Heritage Program, Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, WA.
- Western Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Boulder, CO.