Salt Bush

Baccharis Halimifolia

Size: 1g & 3g availability 

Shrub
Max size: 15 tall x 7’ wide
Average size: 8′ tall x 5′ wide

Usually Moist, Moist to Dry
Loam, Sand
Full Sun
Tolerant of low levels of salt spray and inundation of brackish water

AKA: Consumption Weed, Seasage, Silver Sage, Lowbush Merkle, Sea Myrtle, Groundsel Tree

This shrub is sometimes evergreen and sometimes deciduous, depending on seasonal temperatures. It is diocious and needs a male and female plant for reproduction. It blooms in the late fall with white flowers. It can be weedy if allowed to seed freely; to avoid this, it can be pruned after it flowers. If any additional pruning is needed, you can do so at the start of summer to help control its overall size. It provides shelter and food for birds and attracts many pollinators. Although it is primarily wind-pollinated, it attracts bees, including Colletes mandibularis, C. simulans, C. thysanellae, Agapostemon splendens, Augochlorella aurata, Augochloropsis metallica, Dialictus miniatulus, D. nymphalis, Halictus ligatus, Sphecodes heraclei, Apis mellifera (honeybee). The vast amount of bees it attracts can make it of interest to beekeepers.

Salt bush contains baccharine, a compound that is used in domestic medicines against respiratory diseases and for fevers. The common name Consumption Weed comes from the use of the roots to make a decoction, slightly bitter in taste, to treat consumption and cough. The branches can be bundled to make brooms.