''Iva frutescens'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

known by the common names Jesuit's bark,''Iva frutescens''.
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile. bigleaf marsh-elder,''Iva frutescens''.
NatureServe. and high-tide bush.''Iva frutescens''.
United States Department of Agriculture NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. It grows in coastal eastern North America from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

down the eastern coast and along the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

.Thursby, G. B. and M. A. Abdelrhman. (2004)
Growth of the marsh elder ''Iva frutescens'' in relation to duration of tidal flooding.
''Estuaries'' 27(2) 217-24. ''Iva frutescens'' is a subshrub or shrub with erect stems up to 3.5 meters (almost 12 feet) tall. The leaves are lance-shaped or somewhat oval and have toothed edges. They are variable in size, measuring from 3 to 12 centimeters (1.2-5.0 inches) or more in length. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is an elongated array of many small flower heads with whitish florets.''Iva frutescens''.
Flora of North America, ''Iva frutescens'' Linnaeus, 1753. ''Iva frutescens'' is very common in

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

habitat throughout its native range. While it is tolerant of salinity, it is not very tolerant of flooding, so it tends to grow in a narrow band along the upper margins of marshes. The band may be just a few meters wide, and individuals nearest the water may be stunted. The largest individuals have their roots in water less than 7% of the time, and the longer the roots are submerged, the smaller the plants are. However, this slight tolerance of flooding allows the plant to compete with other species on the marsh margins. This competition on one side and flooding on the other keeps the plant restricted to a narrow band. This species' position is in the malophe front line of waterway

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

. It sometimes grows on substrate that has been

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

and laid out along the edges of waterways. This species provides habitat for salt marsh animals such as the

marsh wren The marsh wren (''Cistothorus palustris'') is a small North American songbird of the wren family. It is sometimes called the long-billed marsh wren to distinguish it from the sedge wren, also known as the short-billed marsh wren. Taxonomy The ma ...

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Photo of herbarium at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Louisiana in 2008Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of TexasGo Botany, New England Wildflower SocietyDelaware Wildflowers
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13922834 frutescens Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus