Sea-lavender – Limonium spp.

Common Name: Sea-lavender

Botanical Name: Limonium spp., li-MON-ee-um

Decorative Life: 4-8 days, up to 16 days.

Flower Color: Lavender, Pink, White

Availability: Year Round

Harvest when 50-70% of the flowers are showing color (open).

• Member of the Plumbaginaceae (plumbago or leadwort family).
• Native to Europe, Eastern Asia.
• Relatives include Armeria, Ceratostigma and leadwort.

• Have tiny flowers in much-branched, airy inflorescences.
• Stems are branched, 24-36 inches long.
• Plants are semi-woody perennials, classed as dicotyledons.
• Flowers are not fragrant and some species even have offensive odors.

36-38 F (3 days or less), 32-34 F (more than 3 days). L. dumosum plugs can be stored frozen up to six weeks at 28F and then forced with no measurable detriments.

• Scientific name is from the Greek word “leimon” (a meadow), referring to the plant’s original habitat.
• Hybrids between L. latifolium (sea lavender) and L. bellidifolium (caspia statice) include ‘Saint Pierre’, ‘Beltlaard’ and the ‘Misty’ series. They retain much of the airy nature of caspia statice.
• Other new hybrids include ‘Fantasia’.
• Suitable for drying, tie several stems in a bunch and hang upside down until dried, lasts for years.

Using annual statice, Reid and Evans (1994) and Doi and Reid (1995) showed that vaselife is tripled in a flower food compared to water. It is therefore hypothesized that many statice types would respond in a similar manner. With L. perigrinum, Lewis and Borst (1993) showed that this species can last 30-40 days in a vase directly after harvest but was reduced to 10-20 days if stored for 72 hours at 41F. They also noted that the use of flower food solutions may not be needed because it lasts so long in water.