Tampico sea-blite

Dondia tampicensis Standley in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 21: 91. 1916

Subshrubs or suffrutescent perennials, spreading, 2-10 dm. Stems ascending or decumbent, stoutly branched, woody stems brown to gray-brown, herbaceous stems green or glaucous, densely tomentulose, leaf scars ± knobby; branches spreading. Leaves densely spreading, subsessile to short-petiolate; petiole ± 1 mm; blade glaucous, linear to oblanceolate, subcylindric, (3-)7-22 × 0.5-1.5 mm, apex acuminate to slightly apiculate, glabrous. Glomes usually confined to distal branches, 1-5-flowered; branches 1-3 mm diam., as thick as vegetative ones; bracts leaflike in shape, green, not glaucous, 1-5 mm. Flowers usually bisexual; perianth 1.5-2 mm diam.; perianth segments proximally connate, ± glabrous; ovary ± vase-shaped with distal necklike extension; stigmas 3. Seeds usually horizontal, 0.8-1 mm; seed coat black.

Flowering spring-fall. Coastal sandy areas, saline flats, clay dunes; 1-30 m; Tex.; Mexico (Tamaulipas); West Indies.