FWS Focus

Overview

Characteristics
Overview

Salt marsh bird’s beak is found in coastal salt marshes from San Luis Obispo County, California, to Northern Baja California, Mexico. Listed as endangered in 1978, and salt marsh bird’s beak is negatively impacted by ongoing threats, including sea level rise from climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change
, altered hydrology and non-native invasive plants. 

Scientific Name

Cordylanthus maritimus ssp. maritimus
Common Name
salt marsh bird's beak
salt marsh bird's-beak
FWS Category
Flowering Plants
Kingdom

Location in Taxonomic Tree

Identification Numbers

TSN:

Characteristics

Characteristic category

Physical Characteristics

Characteristics
Color & Pattern

Salt marsh bird’s beak is an annual plant with an upright, branched growth form.?

Characteristic category

Life Cycle

Characteristics
Reproduction

Germination occurs in spring, when soil salinity is relatively low and soil moisture is higher. 

Characteristic category

Habitat

Characteristics
Habitat

This species grows in upper elevations of tidal marsh habitat.

Coastal

The land near a shore.

Characteristic category

Food

Characteristics
Food

Salt marsh bird’s beak gets water and nutrients through specialized root connections with host plants, which include shore grass, salt grass and alkali heath. 

Geography

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Timeline

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