10/25/2026
Saltbush (as I've always called it) aka groundsel, silverling and others (Baccharus halimifolia) lights up ditches, marshes and woodland edges with bright bursts of fluffy white achenes. These are the plant's fruiting bodies and they're much showier than the pale yellow flowers that preceed them. They only appear on female plants. You'll see both males and females in my pictures if you look.
One of the largest members of the aster family, it is considered weedy and even invasive inland where it spreads easily and tolerates road pollution. But here in the NC Coastal Plain, it's right at home. It was one of the first native plants I grew as a young gardener in southern Florida. I was fascinated by the little volunteer with attractive foliage and fast growth. When the flowers opened the plant was covered in a swarm of large, colorful flies! I'd never seen anything like it. I now see the flowers visited mostly by a variety of bees and wasps, but looking back maybe flies were all we had. That was the era when surplus military aircraft carpeted our neighborhoods in a cocktail of malathion and diesel fuel in the name of mosquito control - a core memory for some of us.
This plant doesn't get much love, but it's an important component of coastal marshes and I think it's beautiful. I look forward to the pops of white every fall. Let your kids shake one when the seeds are mature for free entertainment.
Camden, NC
