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CEGL003956 Batis maritima - Sarcocornia pacifica Saline Dwarf-shrubland

Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Turtleweed - Pacific Swampfire Saline Dwarf-shrubland

Colloquial Name: No Data Available

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This association includes regularly to irregularly flooded tidal areas dominated (often with 95% or more cover) by Batis maritima. Other species can include Sarcocornia pacifica, Sporobolus virginicus, Borrichia frutescens, Suaeda sp., Lycium carolinianum, Spartina spartinae, Monanthochloe littoralis, Sesuvium portulacastrum, and Blutaparon vermiculare. This community generally lacks trees, though scattered individuals of Avicennia germinans can occur in Florida and southern Texas. It may occur as a narrow band or occupy areas up to at least 100 hectares. This is generally a subtropical community, which also ranges northwards into the warmest portions of the temperate southeastern United States.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This association is currently known only from Florida, Georgia and the southern coast of Texas and may be distinguished from ~Sarcocornia pacifica - (Batis maritima, Distichlis spicata) Saline Dwarf-shrubland (CEGL002278)$$ by the dominance of Batis maritima. ~Sarcocornia pacifica - (Batis maritima, Distichlis spicata) Saline Dwarf-shrubland (CEGL002278)$$ ranges along the Gulf Coast of the United States, and though Batis maritima is a component in this association, it is rarely dominant, and then only at small scales. These two associations can be difficult to distinguish along the middle and upper Texas coast where their ranges overlap.

NatureServe identified the perennial glasswort plants at Fort Pulaski as Sarcocornia pacifica using the recent key in Weakley (2007), which follows Flora of North America (FNA Editorial Committee 2003). The perennial glassworts on the U.S. East Coast have been called Sarcocornia perennis in the past (Kartesz 1999), and their taxonomy remains unsettled. Kartesz refers to Salicornia virginica and Sarcocornia perennis as Salicornia ambigua and restricts Sarcocornia pacifica to the Pacific coast. However, NatureServe now follows USDA Plants (2017) nomenclature in U.S. National Vegetation Classification community names and global descriptions, treating Salicornia virginica as Salicornia depressa and accepting Sarcocornia pacifica and Sarcocornia perennis.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available

Floristics: This community is dominated by Batis maritima sometimes in association with Sarcocornia pacifica, Sporobolus virginicus, Borrichia frutescens, Suaeda linearis, Suaeda conferta (in southern Texas), Lycium carolinianum, Spartina spartinae, Sesuvium portulacastrum, and Blutaparon vermiculare. Algal mats of blue-green and sometimes green algae are characteristically present, visible even in densely vegetated pannes.

Dynamics:  No Data Available
Environmental Description:  This association occurs in lower tidal flats and low areas of higher tidal flats, within the reach of regular high tides. It is regularly to irregularly flooded by shallow brackish waters. As these waters evaporate, high concentrations of salt accumulate, producing hypersaline conditions.
Geographic Range: This association is currently only known from Texas, Georgia and Florida. It may also occur in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It does not extend to South Carolina.

Nations: MX?,US

States/Provinces:  AL?, FL, GA, LA?, MS?, MXTAM?, TX


Confidence Level: Low - Poorly Documented

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G5

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.Nb North American Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Salt Marsh Division D034 2.C.5.Nb
Macrogroup 2.C.5.Nb.1 North American Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Salt Marsh Macrogroup M079 2.C.5.Nb.1
Group 2.C.5.Nb.1.b Saltwort species - Swampfire species - Gulf Cordgrass Tidal Flat & Panne Group G123 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Alliance A3955 Turtleweed - Swampfire species - Saltwort species Intertidal Salt Flat Alliance A3955 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Association CEGL003956 Turtleweed - Pacific Swampfire Saline Dwarf-shrubland CEGL003956 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Concept Lineage: merged

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: < Glasswort-Saltwort Series (Diamond 1993)
= Low Marsh (McAlister and McAlister 1993)
Concept Author(s): A.S. Weakley and K.D. Patterson

Author of Description: A.S. Weakley and K.D. Patterson

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 04-16-14
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  • Ball, P. W. 2003b. Sarcocornia. Pages 384-387 in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, editors. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 4. Oxford University Press, New York.
  • Diamond, D. D. 1993. Classification of the plant communities of Texas (series level). Unpublished document. Texas Natural Heritage Program, Austin. 25 pp.
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  • GNHP [Georgia Natural Heritage Program]. 2018. Unpublished data. Georgia Natural Heritage Program, Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Social Circle.
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  • Kartesz, J. T. 1999. A synonymized checklist and atlas with biological attributes for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. First edition. In: J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC.
  • Kartesz, J. T. 2013. The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). Taxonomic Data Center. Chapel Hill, NC. [maps generated from Kartesz, J. T. 2013. Floristic synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)] [http://www.bonap.net/tdc ] (accessed 16 April 2014).
  • McAlister, W. H., and M. K. McAlister. 1993. A naturalist''s guide: Matagorda Island. University of Texas Press, Austin. 354 pp.
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  • McManamay, R. H, A.C. Curtis, and S.C. Heath. 2013b. Vegetation mapping at Fort Pulaski National Monument. Natural Resource Report NPS/SECN/NRR--2013/718. National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO. 180 pp.
  • McManamay, R. H. 2017a. Vegetation mapping at Cumberland Island National Seashore. Natural Resource Report NPS/SECN/NRR--2017/1511. National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO. 422 pp.
  • Southeastern Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Durham, NC.
  • TNHS [Texas Natural History Survey]. No date. Unpublished data. Texas Natural History Survey, The Nature Conservancy, San Antonio.
  • Weakley, A. S. 2007. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and surrounding areas. Unpublished working draft of 11 January 2007. University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU), North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. [http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm]