Batis maritima L.

vernacular turtleweed — species · Bataceae

USDA: BAMA5
GBIF: 5414196
Rank: species

turtleweed (Batis maritima) — Platephotograph · BJ Stacey source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Subshrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Bataceae Mart. ex Perleb.
Genus: Batis

§2a

Native status, by region

HI Hawaii Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Native
PR Puerto Rico Native
VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native

§2b

County-level range

· 29 counties across 3 states/territories

Legend Native · 29 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Salinity: High
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 17 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 200 min.
Precipitation: 28–60 in/yr
pH range: 4–7.9
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Stoloniferous
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 0.1 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Green
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 29 counties across 3 states/territories.

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/BAMA5 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5414196 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z