Perennial; lvs thick and fleshy, linear, to 15 cm, entire or nearly so; scapes 5-20 cm, hairy above, equaling or surpassing the lvs; spikes 2-10 cm, loosely or densely fld, usually interrupted below; bracts broadly ovate, acute, equaling or slightly shorter than the cal; sep broadly ovate, acute or subacute, often ciliolate, rounded on the back, the scarious margins as wide as the herbaceous center; cor-tube hairy; cor-lobes 1-1.5 mm, spreading after anthesis; fr ovoid, surpassing the cal, circumscissile near the middle; seeds 2-4, ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm, flat on the inner face; 2n=12. Salt marshes, beaches, and coastal rocks; circumboreal, s. along the Atlantic to N.J. The Amer. plants are ssp. juncoides (Lam.) Hultꮮ (P. juncoides; P. oliganthos)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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