Beach-Heath

I found Beach-Heath, also called False Heather (Hudsonia tomentosa) in Crawford County, Michigan. Its typical Michigan habitat is the sand dunes along the Great Lakes. I found it in the middle of the Lower Peninsula. I know of several records from Crawford and Kalkaska Counties but in my almost four-decades of botanizing in these counties I had not found it before. It was growing in raw sand and some of my photos look like a Great Lakes sand dune. Vegetation was moving into the area: reindeer lichen (Cladonia sp.), and grass. This bank was cut down when the road was moved and paved approximately fifty-years ago.

Beach-Heath       L                                                                             Mossy Stonecrop       R

From a distance it resembles Mossy Stonecrop (Sedum acre) which also can grow in raw sand. Up close the narrow, tiny, blue-gray leaves covered with white hairs and bright yellow, five-parted flowers left no doubt that it was Beach-heath. The clumps of plants appeared to flower starting from the outside and then moving to the center. While I could detect no fragrance from the flowers numerous mining bees were busily pollinating.

Beach-Heath flowers                 L                                                   Mining Bee        R

I wonder how many other unreported inland colonies exist. If you don’t see the plant during its limited flowering time it might go unnoticed.

Copyright 2018 by Donald Drife

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