Special thanks to the photographers for providing images of Texas endangered and threatened plants. All rights to these images are reserved. Educational use permitted. The underside of the leaf is lighter in color due to small, dense, grayish-white hairs that are barely visible with the naked eye.
Salt crystals are often visible and tasteable on the underside of the leaves.
From November through February, Johnston's frankenia turns from grayish-green to its autumn color, crimson red. During this red phase, when many other south Texas shrubs have lost their leaves, these endangered plants are easy to detect. Populations of Johnston's frankenia are clumped, and tend to occur within openings in the blackbrush dominated brushlands on pockets of highly saline soils.