Thrift - Wild Flowers - Native Wildflowers of The Western Isles
Thrift is a perennial wildflower with small, thin, dark green leaves and small, pink, starry flowers.This cushion-forming perennial can be seen all over The Western Isles during the summer with dense tufts of papery, pink flowers and grass-like grey-green leaves. The little individual pink flowers are borne in dense, roundish heads 15-25mm across, on slender, leafless stalks.

Grasslike Leaves
The leaves are grass-like, basal and deep green. The leaves have just a single vein, and often have hairs along the edges; they arise from a visible woody rootstock, which forms the cushions

Name derivation
The plant 's name 'thrift' possibly came about as with its compact shape it serves to conserve the plant's water supply.

Purple - White - Red - or Pink Flowers
Sometimes purple, white or red flowers can occur - although usually the tiny flowers are pink.

Five Petals
The flowers have five petals, and occur in groups at the top of a flower spike, which is surrounded by the narrow leaves.

Other Names
Also known as Sea Pink,Sea thrift 'Nifty Thrifty, Cliff Clover, Ladies' Cushions, Heugh daisy

Likes Dry Sandy Conditions
It can grow in dry, sandy, saline conditions such as those at beaches and salt marshes.

Antibiotic - Medicinal Uses The dried flowering plant is antibiotic and has been used in the treatment of obesity. Also use to treat some nervous disorders and urinary infections Copper Tolerance Armeria maritima has a great copper-tolerance, and is able to grow in soils with copper concentrations of up to 6400 mg/kg. One mechanism proposed is that not much copper is transported up the shoot of the plant, and is excreted from decaying leaves. The Thrift buds are tighl;y packed into the ground and Its only when you photograph then that you see how pretty they really are

Pollination
The thrift flowers are hermaphrodite - that is to say that they have both male and female organs. They are pollinated by Bees, Butterflies, Moths, beetles and therefore it attracts a great deal of wildlife.

Thrift On British Coins
The British threepence coin or threepenny bit issued between 1937 and 1952 had a design of thrift on the reverse