Pancratium maritimum
Jane McGary (Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:39:40 PST)

Roland wrote "needs salted air to produce flowers

I can attest that N. miniatus (which I am told is the correct name of
most cultivated "N. serotinus") and N. serotinus itself do not need
exposure to sea air or salt spray to flower, as I have been growing
flowering specimens in my bulb frames for years about 175 km from the
ocean, and I have also seen these species flowering in nature so far
inland that they would not experience such influence, unless perhaps
salt spray were picked up in a storm and fell with rain.

There are other plants that are, in nature, found on beaches just
above the high tide line, but that can be grown elsewhere without
special chemistry, e.g. Alstroemeria pelegrina. I suspect that they
are salt-tolerant rather than salt-requiring. However, it is known
that plants that grow in substrates that are toxic to many plants
(such as ultramafic/serpentine) may suffer more from pathogens when
growing elsewhere. Perhaps the sea influence restricts some kind of
disease organism that would otherwise attack the plants?

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA