''Hudsonia tomentosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the rockrose family known by the common names woolly beachheather, beach heather, and sand heather. It is native to northeastern North America, including central and eastern

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and the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Description

This species is a small shrub growing up to about 8 inches tall. The leaves are tiny, scale-like, and coated in woolly hairs. The yellow flowers have five petals and measure about a quarter inch wide. The plant flowers from May to July.

Ecology

This shrub grows in sandy habitat such as

pine barrens Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine (see Atlantic coastal pine barrens) as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barre ...

and dunes. It may be a coastal species, but since it is less tolerant of

sea spray Sea spray are aerosol particles formed from the ocean, mostly by ejection into Earth's atmosphere by bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface. Sea spray contains both organic matter and inorganic salts that form sea salt aerosol (SSA). SSA ha ...

than other coastal plants, it is generally found on arid backdunes and not at the water's edge. The plant is associated with green sands colonized with

nitrogen fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. Atmo ...

blue-green algae Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, bl ...

, particularly in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. These algae may give nutrients to the shrub, allowing it to grow in nutrient-poor sand soils. This plant "requires periodic disturbance," however, it is "very sensitive to human impacts," such as trampling. It has narrow habitat requirements but it can be locally abundant.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3142179 Cistaceae Flora of North America Plants described in 1818