Plumbaginaceae

Leafy, tufted, non-woody (herbaceous) perennials of salt marshes, arising from a thick rootstock. Leaves all basal, leathery, with long stalks, and smooth edges.

Flowers violet-blue, forming stalked branching panicles or corymbs of one-sided spikes. Each flower producing both pollen and seeds; radially symmetrical. Petals 5, separate or nearly so. Sepals 5, dry and persistent, fused at base to form a tube, with pleat-like folds, and 5 lobes at the top. Stamens 5, each attached to the base of a petal. Carpels 5, fused to form 1 pistil; ovary located above point of attachment of other flower parts (superior); styles 5. The dry fruit is single-seeded, the seed enclosed within a thin, loose sac within the persistent sepal tube.