Tripolium pannonicum

Sea aster
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Astereae
Genus:	Tripolium
Species:	T. pannonicum
Binomial name
Tripolium pannonicum (Jacq.) Dobrocz.[1]
Synonyms[1]
Aster longicaulis (DC.) Dufour Aster pannonicus Jacq. Aster tripolium subsp. longicaulis (DC.) Nyman Aster tripolium subsp. pannonicus (Jacq.) Soó Tripolium longicaule (DC.) Dufour Tripolium vulgare Nees, nom. illeg. Tripolium vulgare var. longicaule DC.

Tripolium pannonicum, called the sea aster and often known by the synonyms Aster tripolium or Aster pannonicus, is a plant of northern Europe that is confined in its distribution to salt marshes, estuaries and occasionally to inland salt works.

It is a perennial growing up to 50 cm tall with fleshy lanceolate leaves and purple ray florets flowering from July to September. The plants tend to be short-lived and populations need significant new recruitment each year from new seedlings. There are rayed as well as rayless varieties and only the former have long blue or white florets. The rayless form is yellow. The plant flowers well into autumn and hence provides a valuable source of nectar for late-flying butterflies such as painted lady and red admiral.

References