Photographs: Greggane Strand, Co. Cork

Sea Purslane Atriplex portulacoides Lus an Ghaill Family: Chenopodiaceae Flowering time: July-September. Small shrub. Native. Short spikes of very small greyish flowers with yellow stamens and 5 sepals. Paired bracteoles enclose the triangular fruit. The lower leaves are whitish-mealy, opposite, un-toothed and elliptical, upper leaves are narrower. Much-branched, straggling growth with erect flowering branches on prostrate woody stems. Height to 80cm. Coastal on drier salt-marshes and at the edge of inter-tidal creeks and pools. Most frequent on the south and east Irish coasts

Sea-purslane, Atriplex portulacoides, Lus an Ghaill