Species
+

Armeria maritima (Mill.) Willd.

Thrift, armeriâ primorskaâ, marsh daisy, sea cushion

Climate known 76 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Armeria maritima, the thrift, sea thrift or sea pink, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is a compact evergreen perennial which grows in low clumps and sends up long stems that support globes of bright pink flowers. In some cases purple, white or red flowers also occur. It is a popular garden flower and has been distributed worldwide as a garden and cut flower. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Armeria maritima”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Armeria

Armeria is a genus of flowering plants. These plants are sometimes known as lady's cushion, thrift, or sea pink. The genus counts over a hundred species, mostly native to the Mediterranean, although Armeria maritima is an exception, being distributed along the coasts of the Northern Hemisphere, including Ireland, parts of the United Kingdom such as Cornwall, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in Wales.

Text from Wikipedia, “Armeria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Plumbaginaceae
Described by
(Mill.) Willd.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Føroyar +52
Wild records
642 in range· 198 open

At a glance

Warmest month
18°C
Aug, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
979mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 108 mm (CHELSA)
Light
4–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to March in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest December at 108 mm, driest April at 62 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Androsace macloviana Cham.; Armeria arctica Sternb.; Armeria elongata subsp. maritima (Mill.) C.Hartm.; Armeria humilis Link; Armeria linearifolia Chevall., 1827 and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to March in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (721 mm of 979 mm) takes 8 months, August to March. Mean temperature moves 10.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest December at 108 mm, driest April at 62 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

979 mm a year at the habitat, 721 mm of it August to March. Wettest month December at 108 mm, driest April at 62 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 685 mm to 1734 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 2, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 0.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 0.4 °C, the absolute minimum -4.2 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 21.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 4.5 °C in February (across the envelope cells -1.6 °C to 7.5 °C), warmest day 18.2 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Feb to 18 °C in Aug; mean night from 5 °C in Feb to 14 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 979 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 427 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -4.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 21.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°-5°10°15°20°25°frost21.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-4.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 4–37RH 62–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 427 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 2–128 / 3–129 / 5–1311 / 9–1414 / 12–1716 / 14–1918 / 15–2118 / 15–2116 / 14–1914 / 11–1610 / 7–148 / 3–12
Night °C5 / -1–85 / -2–85 / 0–87 / 4–99 / 7–1112 / 10–1314 / 12–1514 / 12–1612 / 11–1510 / 7–137 / 3–105 / -0–8
Rain mm99 / 65–23377 / 48–19177 / 53–17062 / 38–11163 / 43–9665 / 30–9168 / 11–9673 / 17–11577 / 29–131104 / 61–183106 / 68–226108 / 66–256
DLI5 / 3–1210 / 7–1717 / 15–2628 / 25–3535 / 32–4337 / 33–4835 / 30–4829 / 25–4320 / 17–3412 / 9–236 / 4–134 / 2–10
RH %65 / 63–6964 / 62–6764 / 62–6562 / 60–6463 / 59–6563 / 60–6664 / 60–6864 / 61–6864 / 62–6664 / 63–6665 / 63–6865 / 63–69

Each figure is the median across the 427 grid cells holding the 630 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 741:3479 (52.925, -6.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 21.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 427 distinct grid cells holding the 630 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 741:3479 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 53.00_-6.250, lapse-corrected -76 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 33 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Føroyar, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Azores, Buryatiya, Krasnoyarsk, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Sakhalin, Mongolia, Aleutian Is., Alaska, Greenland, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Labrador, Newfoundland, Ontario, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California· introduced: Turkey-in-Europe
Kew's description“subshrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.329, -4.513 · in the densest population, 271 records (42% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 642 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 198 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 37 km away. 6 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 642 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Armeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritimaArmeria maritima

Photographs: (c) LeeAnn Latremouille, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Eric Lamb, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jacek Pietruszewski, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Armeria maritima, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Interpretation manual of European Union habitats.
Carlos Romão (1996) · Archive of European Integration (AEI) (University of Pittsburgh)
Mobilization of vacuolar iron by AtNRAMP3 and AtNRAMP4 is essential for seed germination on low iron
Viviane Lanquar, Françoise Lelièvre, Susanne Bolte, Cécile Hamès (2005) · The EMBO Journal
Antioxidative Defense System, Pigment Composition, and Photosynthetic Efficiency in Two Wheat Cultivars Subjected to Drought1
Barbara Loggini, Andrea Scartazza, Enrico Brugnoli, F. Navari‐Izzo (1999) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Strategies of heavy metal uptake by three plant species growing near a metal smelter
H. Dahmani-Muller, F van Oort, Brigitte Gélie, May Balabane (2000) · Environmental Pollution
Responses of Plant Proteins to Heavy Metal Stress—A Review
Md. Kamrul Hasan, Yuan Cheng, Mukesh Kumar Kanwar, Xianyao Chu (2017) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Effect of Heavy Metals Pollution on Soil Microbial Diversity and Bermudagrass Genetic Variation
Yan Xie, Jibiao Fan, Weixi Zhu, Erick Amombo (2016) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Effects of Salinity Stress on Chloroplast Structure and Function
Abdul Hameed, Muhammad Zaheer Ahmed, Tabassum Hussain, Irfan Aziz (2021) · Cells

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 8 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.