''Honckenya peploides'', the sea sandwort (UK) or seaside sandplant (Canada), is the only

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Honckenya'' of the plant family

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...

. Other common names include sea chickweed, sea pimpernal, sea-beach sandwort, and sea purslane. The scientific name is often spelled "''Honkenya''", and is named after the German botanist

Gerhard August Honckeny Gerhard August Honckeny (also spelt Honkeny) (1724–1805) was a German botanist, and an ' near Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centr ...

(or Honkeny). This plant has a

circumboreal The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan. It is the largest floristic region in t ...

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

. The plant is a

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

perennial growing at the edge of the sea. It has small greenish white pentamerous flowers with 10

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s in the male flowers borne in the leaf axils. The fruit capsule opens in three valves.

Description

''Honckenya peploides'' is a small, subdioecious, spreading plant, forming patches on sand and shingle above the high water mark of beaches. The stem is branching and buried in the sand. The leaves grow in opposite pairs and are fleshy with membranous margins, pale yellowish-green and ovate, oblong or lanceolate, usually with pointed tips. The flowers are often

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

and have parts in fives. They grow in the upper leaf axils and have ovate to lanceolate sepals, greenish-white petals of about the same length, and three styles. The fruit is a capsule larger than the sepals and superficially resembling a pea. In pistillate flowers the stamens are undeveloped while in staminate flowers, the capsules are poorly developed. There are two subspecies, ''H. p. peploides'' is the nominate subspecies with ovate to lanceolate leaves and flowers growing singly in the upper leaf axils, while ''H. p. major'' is coarser, has longer, more slender leaves, and the flowers are mostly in a multi-flowered cyme.

Distribution

''Honckenya peploides'' has a circum-boreal distribution in both temperate and arctic regions. It is found in coastal regions on sand, shingle and pebbles, in northern Europe (including Britain), northern Asia and North America.

Research

Clumps of ''Honckenya peploides'' of one sex (with either staminate or pistillate flowers) may be separated by a few metres or hundreds of metres from clumps of the other sex. Researchers in Spain studied whether these clumps exhibited different ecophysiological traits which made them better adapted to different microhabitats. They found that shoots growing near the edge of the clumps had higher photosynthetic efficiency and chlorophyll content. Growth rates between clumps of the different sexes did not differ significantly from each other, and male plants continued to have reproductive costs associated with flowering after the female plants had ceased to flower and the seeds were ripening.

Uses

Both the leaves and the seeds of ''H. peploides'' are used as food. The shoots and leaves are rich in

vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably bet ...

and

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) an ...

and can be used as a green leafy vegetable either raw or cooked. They can also be fermented to prepare a

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferme ...

-like preserve, and in Iceland are fermented in whey to produce a drink. The seeds are small in size and time-consuming to gather; they can be ground up and added to flour or used as a garnish.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q2714304, from2=Q157949 Caryophyllaceae Monotypic Caryophyllaceae genera Flora of North America Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Taxa named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart