84 Records

Like Seaside Amaranth, Seaside Sandmat is a "fugitive annual." Seaside Sandmat grows on bare sands at the ends of accreting barrier islands and other coastal beaches from Nova Scotia to northeast Florida, and also around the Great Lakes. It does not tolerate competition from perennial plants that may serve to stabilize beaches and dunes, however, so when these stabilizing plants take over, Seaside Sandmat declines. Its seeds, though, blow and float to newly bare sandy areas and establish new "fugitive" populations. In contrast to Seabeach Amaranth, which has declined precipitously across its former range, Seaside Sandmat has maintained more stable populations.