Exposed places on the coast are the flourishing grounds for beautiful and sea-tolerant plants, which can thrive in the extreme conditions the sea and coastline throw at them.
Sea lavender
Sea lavenders live on small cliff ledges with hardly any soil and, in the south, on salt-marshes in sheltered estuaries.
© National Trust / Lucy Cordrey
Their attractive purple flowers can be found in late summer round many areas of coast.
Where to spot them:
- Brean, Somerset
- on cliffs on the Gower Peninsula, Swansea
- at the top of the salt-marsh on the marshes in North Norfolk and Orford Ness, Suffolk
Sea pea
Sea pea is a low, creeping plant with bright green leaves and rich purple flowers in early spring. It lives on one of the coast's harshest environments: shingle.
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
Sea pea dies back by late June, unable to tolerate the high summer heat. Its stronghold is in the East of England.
Where to spot them:
Wild asparagus
Despite the name, this coastal species of asparagus is not for eating. Though edible, and similar in looks to garden-grown asparagus, it is bitter tasting. A low growing plant, wild asparagus frequents coastal grasslands or scrub, sea cliffs and sand dunes. It is easiest to spot in late spring when it produces bushy growth, and in autumn when it bears fruit with glossy red berries.
© Phil Yeoman / BNPS
Wild asparagus has separate male and female plants. Conservation work for this endangered species has involved our Nature Conservation team lending a helping hand to a single female plant in Dorset by hand pollinating her with the flowers of an eligible male plant growing several miles away in Cornwall.
Where to spot them:
- on the Gower, Swansea
- the Lizard, Cornwall
- the north-west Cornish coast
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Oysterplant
The oysterplant lives in the ‘splash’ zone of shores. It must be able to tolerate the salt deposits left on its leaves by incoming waves.
© Richard Allen
Where to spot them:
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Lundy cabbage
The Lundy cabbage lives on the eastern cliffs and slopes on isolated Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, the only place where it is found growing.
© Roger Key (English Nature)
The Lundy cabbage supports the Lundy cabbage bronze flea beetle, providing its sole food source. Although the Lundy cabbage is a member of the cabbage family it is hardly delectable, tasting like ultra-strong Brussels sprouts.
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Thrift
Thrift, or sea pink, is an easy to find plant on the coast. It likes living on cliff ledges and in any bit of soil where it can get established.
© Richard Allen
In spring whole areas of cliffs and footpaths on the coast are covered with thrift, one of the earliest plants to flower. Some plants flower through to summer.
Sea campion
White flowering sea campion usually lives in close proximity to thrift.
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
Where to spot them:
- on the cliffs of Bolt Head, South Devon
- the coast path near Kynance on the Lizard, Cornwall
- the White Cliffs of Dover, Kent
- on cliffs near Rhossili on the Gower, Swansea
- Whitepark Bay, Co Antrim
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Salt-marsh plants
In sheltered areas of estuaries, salt-marshes can form and play host to many species of plants that are particularly adapted to saltwater.
In some areas of salt-marsh plants can get covered by sea water twice a day, something their fleshy leaves help them cope with.
Glasswort
Glasswort, or Salicornia, is bright green when it emerges from the mud. It is edible, tasting like a very salty cucumber.
Scurvy grass
Scurvy grass is, in fact, not a grass but a plant with small white flowers that grows on the upper reaches of salt-marshes. It was famously used by shipwrecked sailors as a combatant against scurvy.
Sea pink and sea aster
Sea pink can also be found on the upper reaches of salt-marshes. Sea aster is more tolerant of salt and can live lower down the salt-marsh where the salt concentration is higher.
Where to spot them:
- on the east coast of England there are extensive salt-marshes in North Norfolk near Scolt Head and at Blakeney, and Orford Ness, Suffolk
- salt-marshes can also be found at Llanrhidian on the Gower, Swansea, and at Strangford Lough, Co Down
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Sand dune plants
Other plants like sea couch grass can live on salt-marshes, but also on sand dunes where marram grass can secure large areas of sand.
Sea holly likes growing on open dunes, as well as on grassland that has become more stable.
© NTPL / Stephen Robson
In stable dunes many plant species like centaury, pyramidal orchid and vipers bugloss can thrive.
© NTPL / Stephen Robson
Where to spot them:
From spring through to summer at:
- Nicholston Burrows on the Gower, Swansea
- Alnmouth Dunes, Northumberland
- East Head, Sussex
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