About Frankenia palmeri S.Watson
Frankenia palmeri is a species of flowering plant in the frankenia family, Frankeniaceae. It has three common names: Palmer's seaheath, Palmer's frankenia, and yerba reuma. This plant is native to the coastline of northwestern Mexico, and also to San Diego County, California in the United States. It grows in sand dunes, beaches, alkali flats, and salt marshes, and thrives in these habitats because it is adapted to saline soils. It is a small, tangling shrub that grows less than one meter tall. It has spreading stems lined with clusters of knobby, fleshy leaves. Flowers grow among the leaf clusters toward the ends of its branches. Each flower has white petals that are 3 to 4 millimeters long. The petals are often tinted pink near the flower throat, and the flowers have pink anthers. This plant is growing increasingly rare, because its coastal habitat, located on commercially and developmentally valuable land, is being lost to development.
