Gesteelde zoutmelde [Halimione pedunculata (L.) Aellen] op Texel

Halimione pedunculata, one of the rarest halophytes of the Netherlands, was known from the southwestern estuaries, as well as from the Westfriesian islands of Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog. Its absence from Texel was remarkable. On 6 September 1988, the authors observed and collected the species in the southern part of the island of Texel, near the village Den Hoorn, in the nature reserve ‘De Petten’, a salt marsh inside the dikes. This is a permanently salt, non-desalinating habitat. Halimione pedunculata is restricted there to a narrow ecotone (20-30 cm broad) on slopes between Puccinellietum maritimae and Juncetum gerardii. This habitat preference, characteristic of salt marshes inside dikes as it has been previously described, is at variance with the species’ preference on foreshore salt marshes; there it is optimal in open vegetation of the middle high salt marsh on sand flats with a thin layer of silt: Puccinellietum maritimae parapholietosum.