Plants : BoraginaceaeFerns and Flowering Plants

Mertensia maritima (L.) Gray

Oysterplant

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Mertensia maritima

Description: A northern species reaching its southern limit in Europe in Ireland. Now rarer than a century ago - perhaps the result of warming of the climate.

There are good populations still to be seen in the north of Co. Antrim and in Co. Down near Annalong. The plant grows on upper parts of shingle beaches where there is some supply of freshwater from the land behind and some protection from the worst storms.

All names: Mertensia maritima (L.) Gray; Pneumaria maritima (L.) Hill

Distribution Map from NBN: Mertensia maritima at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Mertensia maritima at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

 Hackney, P., 2026. Mertensia maritima. (L.) Gray. [In] Flora of Northern Ireland.
https://habitas.org/flora/species.php?item=4018. Accessed on 2026-11-02.