North America Non-native Plant

Hydrophylax Maritima

Botanical name: Hydrophylax maritima

USDA symbol: HYMA9

Native status: Not native but doesn't reproduce and persist in the wild

The Mystery of Hydrophylax maritima: When Plant Names Don’t Add Up As native plant enthusiasts, we sometimes encounter plant names that seem to slip through the cracks of botanical knowledge. Hydrophylax maritima is one such puzzling case that has us scratching our heads. The Search That Came Up Empty Despite ...

The Mystery of Hydrophylax maritima: When Plant Names Don’t Add Up

As native plant enthusiasts, we sometimes encounter plant names that seem to slip through the cracks of botanical knowledge. Hydrophylax maritima is one such puzzling case that has us scratching our heads.

The Search That Came Up Empty

Despite thorough searches through major botanical databases, horticultural resources, and native plant guides, Hydrophylax maritima doesn’t appear to be a currently recognized plant species. This could mean several things:

  • The name might be a synonym that’s fallen out of use
  • It could be a misidentification or typo
  • The genus Hydrophylax isn’t recognized in current plant taxonomy

What This Means for Gardeners

If you’ve encountered this name somewhere and are hoping to add it to your native garden, we’d recommend double-checking the source. Sometimes plant names get mixed up in catalogs, mislabeled in nurseries, or confused in online discussions.

Moving Forward

Rather than risk recommending a plant that might not exist or might be misidentified, we’d suggest reaching out to your local native plant society or extension office with any additional information you might have about where you encountered this name. They might be able to help solve this botanical mystery!

In the meantime, there are plenty of wonderful, well-documented native plants waiting to find their way into your garden.

Hydrophylax Maritima

Classification

Group

Dicot

Kingdom

Plantae - Plants

Subkingdom

Tracheobionta - Vascular plants

Superdivision

Spermatophyta - Seed plants

Division

Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants

Subdivision
Class

Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons

Subclass

Asteridae

Order

Rubiales

Family

Rubiaceae Juss. - Madder family

Genus

Hydrophylax L. f.

Species

Hydrophylax maritima L. f. [excluded]

Plant data source: USDA, NRCS 2025. The PLANTS Database. https://plants.usda.gov,. 2/25/2025. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA