Limonium is a genus of about 600 flowering plant species. Members are also known assea-lavender,statice,caspia ormarsh-rosemary. Despite their common names, species are not related to thelavenders or torosemary. They are instead inPlumbaginaceae, the plumbago or leadwort family.The generic name is from the Latinlīmōnion, used byPliny for a wild plant and is ultimately derived from the Ancient Greekleimon (λειμών, 'meadow').[1]
The genus has asubcosmopolitan distribution in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia. By far the greatest diversity (over 100 species) is in the area stretching from theCanary Islands east through theMediterranean region to central Asia; for comparison, North America only has three nativeLimonium species.[2]
Sea-lavenders normally grow asherbaceousperennial plants, growing 10–70 cm tall from arhizome; a few (mainly from the Canary Islands) are woodyshrubs up to 2 metres tall. Many species flourish insaline soils, and are therefore common nearcoasts and insalt marshes, and also on saline,gypsum andalkaline soils in continental interiors.
Theleaves are simple, entire to lobed, and from 1–30 cm long and 0.5–10 cm broad; most of the leaves are produced in a dense basalrosette, with the flowering stems bearing only small brown scale-leaves (bracts). Theflowers are produced on a branchedpanicle orcorymb, the individual flowers are small (4–10 mm long) with a five-lobedcalyx andcorolla, and fivestamens; the flower colour is pink or violet to purple in most species, white or yellow in a few. Many of the species areapomictic. The fruit is a smallcapsule containing a singleseed, partly enclosed by the persistent calyx.
Several species are populargarden flowers; they are generally known to gardeners asstatices. They are grown both for their flowers and for the appearance of thecalyx, which remains on the plant after the true flowers have fallen, and are known as "everlasting flowers".
There are about 600 species in the genus, many of them localendemic species with a very restricted range.[3] Species not given a common name here are generally referred to simply as "sea-lavender", "statice," or "marsh-rosemary".
