I found this tiny plant which is probably a member of the pink family on June 2, 2006 growing on a rock at a beach in West Vancouver. Can you id this plant, please?
Hi Ron, thank you for your help! So this would then be Sagina maxima, very probably ssp. crassicaulis, because the habitat does not match for most other Sagina species that are known from B. C. (except possibly for Sagina procumbens which is common in my area and looks too different) and because I cannot see any glands on the images. Am I right? Sorry for answering so late! I caught an awful cold and had been rather ill for some days. Thanks again, Robert.
Wild Plants of Greater Seattle lists S. apetala ("rare"), S. decumbens ssp. occidentalis ("uncommon"), S. maxima ssp. crassicalis ("extirpated; last collected in 1912") and S. procubens ("common") for down here. Vancouver will be likely to have similar assortment, but there could certainly be ones there we don't have and vice versa.
Hi Ron, there are clearly several Sagina species in British Columbia and I guess that not all of them can be named easily. Sagina apetala is an introduced plant that has usually no petals and 4 sepals. So this is not it. Sagina decumbens ssp. occidentalis is an annual which does not seem to be characteristic for beaches and which probably does not have the dense foliage that my plant had. And there are just a bit too many basal leaves present for this species. Sagina procumbens is another weedy introduced plant which sheds its petals quickly and easily. And the petals are supposed to be less than 1 mm long. I also think that the foliage of my plant was rather thick and fleshy - and according to the "Illustrated Flora of British Columbia" there are only two species of Sagina in British Columbia which have succulent leaves: Sagina japonica (which is only known from Prince Rupert and Nanaimo and which is supposed to grow in dry waste places) and Sagina maxima. I added another image so that you might recognize that the leaves look succulent.So unless someone tells me that and why I am wrong this plant will be assigned to S. maxima ssp. crassicaulis because I just cannot figure out what else it could be if it actually is a Sagina species. Kind regards, Robert.
