Bassia hirsuta

Plants 5-50 cm. Stems divari-cately branched. Leaves sessile; blade linear or filiform, semiterete. Inflorescences with incurved axes, flexuous. Perianth segments: (2-) 3(-4) with short, conic, non-hooked appendage adaxially at maturity, others normally unappendaged adaxially. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Seashores, coastal dunes, salt marshes, other saline and alkaline habitats; 0-50 m; introduced; Md., Mass., N.J., N.Y., Pa., Va.; Eurasia.

The history of invasion of Bassia species in North America, together with some details of their distribution, is provided in the treatment by S. L. Collins and W. H. Blackwell (1978). In my opinion, B. hirsuta, unlike B. hyssopifolia, can hardly be regarded as a potentially serious weed because it is confined to highly saline habitats.

Bushy-branched annual 2-4 dm, turning pink in autumn; lvs fleshy and subterete, pubescent, linear-oblong, 1-1.5(2) cm; spikes paniculiform, usually with a flexuous axis; call mm; fr 3 נ2 mm; one lower and 2 upper sep bearing a short, stout, dorsal process; seed 1.5 mm wide; 2n=18. Native of Europe, now abundant on beaches and salt marshes from Mass. to Va.

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

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.