''Salicornia europaea'', known as marsh

samphire Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies. * Rock samphire ('' Crithmum maritimum'') is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Uni ...

, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a

halophytic A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. ...

annual

dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, ...

flowering plant. Other common names include pickle weed, saltwort, and chicken toe (due to the shape). It is a

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

with high water content, accounting for its slightly translucent look (the source of the name 'glasswort'). It is found near

saline water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish wat ...

in Europe and is edible both raw and cooked.

Description

Glasswort plants are relatively small and have jointed, bright green stems. During the fall, these plants turn red or purple. Their

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are small and scale like, and they produce fleshy fruits that contain a single seed. Like most members of the subfamily

Salicornioideae The Salicornioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae (''sensu lato'', including the Chenopodiaceae). Important characters are succulent, often articulated stems, strongly reduced leaves, and flowers aggregated in thick, ...

, ''Salicornia'' species use the

C3 carbon fixation carbon fixation is the most common of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation in photosynthesis, the other two being and CAM. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into two molecules of ...

pathway to take in carbon dioxide from the surrounding atmosphere.

Distribution and habitat

It is found on most coastlines in Europe. It grows in various zones of intertidal

salt marshes A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open Seawater, saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the ti ...

, on beaches, and among

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

Cultivation

''Salicornia'' prefers a light, sandy soil (or a well-drained soil) and a sunny position. Samphire can be planted out once the danger of frosts is past. ''Salicornia'' is best watered with a saline solution of 1 teaspoon of sea salt in of water. ''Salicornia'' grow best in 200 mM NaCl. In the Northern Hemisphere, the harvesting of samphire shoots takes place from June to August. After that time shoots will become woody. Samphire should be treated as a slow-growing cut-and-come-again crop, with a month elapsing between each cut.

Uses

The ashes of

glasswort The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus '' Salicornia'', but today the gla ...

and

saltwort Saltwort is a common name for various genera of flowering plants that thrive in salty environments, typically in coastal salt marshes and seashores, including: :*'' Salsola'' and related genera within subfamily '' Salsoloideae'' :*''Salicornia'' :* ...

plants (

barilla ''Barilla'' refers to several species of salt-tolerant (halophyte) plants that, until the 19th century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtain ...

) and of

kelp Kelps are large brown algae or seaweeds that make up the order (biology), order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus, genera. Despite its appearance and use of photosynthesis in chloroplasts, kelp is technically not a plant but a str ...

were long used as a source of soda ash (mainly

sodium carbonate Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash, sal soda, and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water ...

) for glassmaking and soapmaking. The introduction of the

Leblanc process The Leblanc process was an early industrial process for making ''soda ash'' ( sodium carbonate) used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: making sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, fol ...

for the industrial production of soda ash in the first half of the 19th century superseded the use of plant sources.

Culinary

''S. europaea'' is edible, either raw or cooked."Salicornia europaea"
page of th
''Plants for a Future'' website
Retrieved July 14, 2007. In the UK, it is one of several plants known as ''samphire''; the term is believed to be a corruption of the French name, ''herbe de Saint-Pierre'', which means "St. Peter's herb". Samphire is usually cooked, then coated in butter or olive oil. Due to its high salt content, it must be cooked without any salt added, in plenty of water. After cooking, it resembles seaweed in colour, and the flavour and texture are like young spinach stems, asparagus, or artichoke. Samphire is often used as a suitably maritime accompaniment to fish or seafood.

Pharmacological research

In South Korea, Phyto Corporation has developed a technology of extracting low-sodium salt from ''Salicornia europaea'', a salt-accumulating plant. The company claims the naturally-derived plant salt is effective in treating high blood pressure and fatty liver disease by reducing sodium intake. The company has also developed a desalted ''Salicornia'' powder containing antioxidative and antithrombus

polyphenol Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring phenols. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some of which have been used historically as ...

s, claimed to be effective in treating obesity and

arteriosclerosis Arteriosclerosis, literally meaning "hardening of the arteries", is an umbrella term for a vascular disorder characterized by abnormal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries; this process gradually restricts th ...

, as well as providing a means to help resolve global food shortages.

Environmental uses

''Salicornia europaea'' is a new candidate plant species for using in effective

phytoremediation Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants. It is defined as "the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronom ...

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

-contaminated saline soils.

References

{{Authority control europaea Barilla plants Edible plants Salt marsh plants Plants described in 1753 Succulent plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus