Ammophila is a genus of flowering plants consisting of two or three very similar species of grasses. The common names for these grasses include marram grass, bent grass, and beachgrass. These grasses are found almost exclusively on the first line of coastal dunes. Their extensive systems of creeping underground stems or rhizomes allow them to thrive under conditions of shifting sands and high winds, and to help stabilize and prevent coastal erosion. Ammophila species are native to the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean where they are usually the dominant species on dunes. Their native range includes few inland regions, with the Great Lakes of North America being the main exception. The genus name Ammophila originates from the Greek words ἄμμος (ámmos), meaning "sand", and φίλος (philos), meaning "friend".
Pioneer species are resilient species that are the first to colonize barren environments, or to repopulate disrupted biodiverse steady-state ecosystems as part of ecological succession. A number of kinds of events can create good conditions for pioneers, including disruption by natural disasters, such as wildfire, flood, mudslide, lava flow or a climate-related extinction event or by anthropogenic habitat destruction, such as through land clearance for agriculture or construction or industrial damage. Pioneer species play an important role in creating soil in primary succession, and stabilizing soil and nutrients in secondary succession.
Nyctaginaceae, the four o'clock family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plants, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The family has a distinctive fruit type called an accessory fruit or anthocarp, and many genera have extremely large pollen grains.
Ammophila arenaria is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is known by the common names marram grass and European beachgrass. It is one of two species of the genus Ammophila. It is native to the coastlines of Europe and North Africa where it grows in the sands of beach dunes. It is a perennial grass forming stiff, hardy clumps of erect stems up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in height. It grows from a network of thick rhizomes which give it a sturdy anchor in its sand substrate and allow it to spread upward as sand accumulates. These rhizomes can grow laterally by 2 metres in six months. One clump can produce 100 new shoots annually.
Coastal strand is a plant community of flowering plants that form along the shore in loose sand just above the high tide line.
The perennial flower Abronia latifolia or Abronia arenaria is a species of sand-verbena known commonly as the coastal sand-verbena, or yellow sand-verbena. It is native to the west coast of North America, from southern California to southern British Columbia. In Canada, it is at risk of becoming extirpated, threatened, or endangered.
Abronia umbellata is a flowering annual plant which is native to western North America. Other common names include beach sand verbena and purple sand verbena.
Abronia villosa is a species of sand-verbena known by the common names desert sand-verbena and chaparral sand-verbena. It is in the four o'clock plant family (Nyctaginaceae). It is native to sandy areas in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, associated with creosote-bush and coastal-sage scrub habitats.
Amsinckia grandiflora is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name large-flowered fiddleneck. This is a wildflower endemic to California and considered a Critically endangered species on the state and national level. Amsinckia grandiflora is one of four 1248 rare heterostylous species within the genus Amsinckia that have highly restricted distributions from which the more weedy homostylous congeners are thought to have evolved.
Abronia alpina is a rare species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common names Ramshaw Meadows sand verbena and Ramshaw Meadows abronia. It is endemic to Tulare County, California, where it is known from only one area high in the Sierra Nevada.
Abronia pogonantha is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family (Nyctaginaceae) known by the common name Mojave sand-verbena. It is native to California and Nevada, where it grows in the Mojave Desert, adjacent hills and mountains, and parts of the San Joaquin Valley in the Central Valley.
Abronia ameliae, commonly known as Amelia's sand verbena or heart's delight, is a species of flowering plant in the Four O'clock family, Nyctaginaceae, that is endemic to southern Texas in the United States. It inhabits grasslands in the deep sands of the Holocene sand sheet, which is part of the Tamaulipan mezquital. This species was named for Amelia Anderson Lundell, wife of Cyrus Longworth Lundell.
Abronia mellifera is a species of sand verbena known by the common name white sand verbena.
Abronia fragrans, the sweet sand-verbena, snowball sand-verbena, prairie snowball or fragrant verbena, is a species of sand verbena.
Blancoa is a monotypic genus of perennial herbs in the family Haemodoraceae; the single species is Blancoa canescens, commonly known as the winter bell. It is endemic to the southwestern corner of Western Australia. It has nodding red to pink flowers, a clumping habit and grows to be 10 to 40 cm in height. The genus is named in honour of Francisco Manuel Blanco, a Spanish friar and botanist who compiled the first comprehensive flora of the Philippines.
Arctomecon californica is a species of poppy known by several common names, including California bearpoppy, Las Vegas bearpoppy, golden bearpoppy, and yellow-flowered desert poppy. It is a perennial herb that is native to the eastern Mojave Desert.
Primula sieboldii, the Japanese primrose, is a species of primrose that is endemic to East Asia. The species goes by common names such as Siebold's primrose, cherry blossom primrose, Japanese woodland primroseSnowflake, Geisha girl, Madam butterfly and the Japanese primrose which also applies to the related species Primula japonica.
Abronia macrocarpa is a rare species of flowering plant known by the common name largefruit sand verbena. It is endemic to eastern Texas, where its current range is limited to Freestone, Leon, and Robertson counties. It inhabits harsh, open sand dunes on savannas, growing in deep, poor soils. It was first collected in 1968 and described as a new species in 1972. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Abronia, the sand-verbenas or wild lantanas, is a genus of about 20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the family Nyctaginaceae. Despite the common names, they are not related to Verbena (vervains) or lantanas in the family Verbenaceae. They are closely allied with Tripterocalyx.
Flowering synchrony is the amount of overlap between flowering periods of plants in their mating season compared to what would be expected to occur randomly under given environmental conditions. A population which is flowering synchronously has more plants flowering at the same time than would be expected to occur randomly. A population which is flowering asynchronously has fewer plants flowering at the same time than would be expected randomly. Flowering synchrony can describe synchrony of flowering periods within a year, across years, and across species in a community. There are fitness benefits and disadvantages to synchronized flowering, and it is a widespread phenomenon across pollination syndromes.
