Теңіз қызылшасы немесе теңіз ерінгісі

Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae

Eryngium maritimum, the sea holly or sea eryngo, or sea eryngium, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae and native to most European coastlines. It resembles a thistle in appearance because of its burr shaped inflorescences. Despite its common name, it is not a true holly but an umbellifer.

E. maritimum was formally described by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum I: 233 (1753). The generic name Eryngium derives from Greek and may have developed from a description of the plant by Theophrastus (300 BC), who referred to it as "Eryngion", meaning a spiny plant. Alternatively, the name may have derived from the Greek word "eruggarein", meaning to eructate (belch), since the plant was used to treat various digestive disorders such as trapped gases. The specific epithet maritimum means "of the sea". The common English name appears to date from the 16th century. In his 1548 publication The Names of Herbes, the naturalist William Turner stated that "Eryngium is named in englishe sea Hulver or sea Holly".

Although hybrids of E. maritimum have been reported, they are relatively few. For example, records have been made of a hybrid between E. maritimum and E. campestre (=Eryngium x rocheri Corb. ex Guétrot) in France, and in the region of Valencia, Spain. The species' chromosome number is 2n = 16.

Sea holly is a glabrous, intensely glaucous, clump forming perennial growing to around 60 cm tall. It is a slightly succulent xerophyte with a deep, well developed root system and waxy leaf cuticle. The leaves are stiff, spiny, and leathery. The basal leaves, which measure 5 – 15 cm in length and are rolled when young, are palmately 3 lobed and suborbicular, truncate, or cordate at the base. The bracts are spiny, and the bracteoles are longer than the flowers. The sepals measure 4 – 5 mm and are longer than the petals.

Throughout its range, sea holly is a coastal species, occurring locally and almost continuously along the coastlines of England and Ireland. In Great Britain, it is most abundant on the south and west coasts, but now largely extinct from the coasts of northeast England and Scotland; however, it may have once been more common and widespread there. It was formerly extant in Shetland, but never properly established at the northernmost limit of its native range. The last Shetland record was made from Fitful Head in 1884, where the plant probably once grew extensively on the sands of the Bay of Quendale. In Europe and adjacent parts of northern Africa and the Middle East, the plant has a wide native distribution. In these regions, it occurs on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas as well as the Black and Azov Seas. The Scandinavian distribution is relatively southerly, extending only as far north as southern Norway and Sweden. Sea holly has been introduced to parts of eastern North America, where it was once valued as an ornamental plant for seashore restoration. It has also been introduced to Australia with plantings of marram grass.

Sea holly characteristically grows on the well drained substrates of sand dunes and shingles confined to regions with mild winters. It withstands the harsh environmental conditions typical of beaches and coastal dune habitats worldwide; namely low soil nutrient levels, frost, strong salty winds, high temperatures and insolation, and periodic sand burial. On dunes, sea holly may be found growing in the Elymus farctus ssp. boreali atlanticus foredune community, declining when habitats are invaded by shrubby species such as Rosa rugosa, Hippophae rhamnoides, Elaeagnus commutata and Salix repens due to substantial shading effects although it is protected against water stress through excessive insolation thanks to its succulent equifacial leaves. Sea holly has deep, well developed taproots for water storage, allowing the plant to survive long dry periods that may occur in its habitat. The root system also shows a high degree of plasticity in response to the dynamics of coastal ecosystems and may consequently develop a rhizome like structure. For example, in response to permanent sand burial, the root internodes gradually lengthen in such a way that the perennating buds are brought closer to the ground surface for ensuring the plants' survival throughout the growing seasons.

Despite a widespread native European distribution, populations of this species have been declining substantially in the northern parts of its range, with some of these already having become extinct. It is now threatened or endangered in most European countries and included in endangered plant lists and Red Data Books of several of these countries In Britain, its historic decline may be at least partly attributable to being dug up from the wild on account of its popularity as an ornamental plant in gardens on dry soils.