Hudsonia tomentosa Nutt.

vernacular woolly beachheather — species · Cistaceae

USDA: HUTO
GBIF: 5331111
Rank: species

woolly beachheather (Hudsonia tomentosa) — Platephotograph · Tigran TadevosyanCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Subshrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Cistaceae Juss.
Genus: Hudsonia

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 5 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 5 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Medium
Salinity: High
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -13 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 170 min.
Precipitation: 35–55 in/yr
pH range: 5.5–6.9
Root depth: 26 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 1 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Gray-Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Low
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Propagation: seed, cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 5 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/HUTO ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5331111 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z