This was one of the plants I very much wanted to see for years but had failed to find. Then I was introduced to the Rhosneigr salt marsh and dunes on Anglesey to find the very rare Early Sand-grass (Mibora minima) and found myself looking at hundreds of tufts of what looked like some kind of flat heather. It was Frankenia laevis and for some reason it loves the conditions at Rhosneigr and has spread all over the area. This is just part of one flat tuft about 30 or 40cm in diameter. There are probably over one hundred of these tufts. Like most salt marsh plants it flowers in midsummer.

F. laevis is entirely coastal and most sites are around the southern and east Anglian coasts of England. There are a few outposts of which this one at Rhosneigr is very significant but there are only four other records for Wales, one for northern England and none for Scotland or Ireland.

Rhosneigr, Anglesey, 3rd August 2006

Amended on January 26th 2005, updated 16th January 2009, updated 31st March 2010