Ecomare

In Dutch, this family is literally named ‘beach herb’. However, it would be more appropriate to call the two family members that grow in the Netherlands marsh herbs, since that is where they grow. Besides along the coast, many members also grow in places where lots of salt is found in the ground; as far away as the salty deserts in Asia. Leadworts are very resistant to salt. Should they take up too much salt, then they ‘perspire’ just like we do, in order to get rid of the excess salt and not dry up. Sometimes you can see the salt crystals on the underside of the leaves. There are few other plants that can 'sweat' in this manner, so that leadworts have little competition to deal with.