Feathery plumes of blue-green scale leaves and whitish-pink flower spikes line seaside promenades because they resist salt wind
Tamarisk.
Nature · Shrubs
Tamarisk
Neophyte (in gardens by 1571) · flowers summer · coasts, sea walls and hedges
Tamarix gallica — Tamaricaceae
The feathery, blue-green shrub of the seaside, a native of the western Mediterranean and south-west Europe that has been planted along British coasts for centuries as a windbreak because it shrugs off salt spray. Its whitish-pink flower plumes and tiny scale-like leaves make it look like a cross between heather and a conifer.
How to spot them
- ▸Feathery, arching branches of tiny, scale-like blue-green leaves on dark purple-brown young shoots
- ▸Slender cylindrical plumes of small star-shaped whitish-pink flowers on the current season's growth
- ▸A deciduous shrub or small tree, 2.5–4 m, often wind-pruned and spreading, planted on coasts and sea walls
- ▸Grows in salt-laden wind, sandy soils, shingle and coastal hedges; suckers
- ▸Look-alikes: heather has needle leaves and bell flowers; tamarisk is a shrub or tree with feathery scale leaves and pink plumes
How to know it
Native to the western Mediterranean, it was grown in British gardens by 1571 and first found wild on St Michael's Mount in 1796
Tamarisk (BSBI).
Widely planted as coastal shelter because it is very resistant to wind
Tamarisk.
Spreading by suckers, it also escapes on to inland waste ground and refuse tips
Tamarisk (BSBI).
Its tiny, scale-like leaves on slender arching stems make it look like a feathery conifer, yet it flowers in pink plumes
Tamarisk.
Quick-fire facts
- •Tamarix gallica, family Tamaricaceae; gallica means 'of Gaul' (France); the plant is from south-west Europe and the western Mediterranean
- •A neophyte: BSBI records cultivation in British gardens by 1571 and wild by 1796 (St Michael's Mount, West Cornwall)
- •Extensively planted on coasts as a windbreak because it is very wind-resistant; most records are of planted, long-lived specimens (BSBI)
- •RHS: deciduous shrub or small tree 2.5–4 m with small scale-like blue-green leaves and star-shaped whitish-pink flowers on current-season growth
- •Tamarisk tolerates salt, and excretes excess salt through glands on its leaves
- •Can spread by suckering and occurs inland as a garden escape on waste ground
- •Recent increases in records reflect better recording of non-native shrubs rather than a real expansion (BSBI)
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Sources
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Tamarix gallica (Tamarisk)
- Royal Horticultural Society — Tamarix gallica (common tamarisk)