Limonium echioides ( L.) Mill.

Spice Flower detail Flower In the field

Family: PLUMBAGINACEAE

Genus: Limonium

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Castelló. Girona. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera. Cabrera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Terophyte.

Habitats: Litoral marshes and riparian. Rocky coastlines. Coastal therophytic communities.

Characteristics: This is probably one of the few species of Limonium which can be recognised without any problems. It has an annual cycle therefore it can root out easily, unlike most of the other species which are woody, at least at the base. It forms a rosette of leaves with a round tip that are perfectly adjacent to the ground; the inflorescence is made up of many filiform, curling spikes which reach the ground, the flowers have a very lax layout. It is often reddish in colour. It lives in open, normally sandy, places but also in clay soils, with a sea influence. It flowers at the end of spring; it is one of the first species of the genus to flower, in summer it dies.