''Salicornia'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
succulent
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'', meani ...
,
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. ...
(salt tolerant)
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s in the family
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae ( ) is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus '' Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, maki ...
that grow in
salt marsh
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 saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...
es, 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 ...
s. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, and southern Africa. Common names for the genus include
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 ...
,
pickleweed Pickleweed is a common name used for two unrelated genera of flowering plants:
*'' Batis'', family Bataceae
*''Salicornia
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow i ...
, picklegrass, and 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 ...
; these common names are also used for some species not in ''Salicornia''. To French speakers in
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...
, they are known colloquially as ('mouse tits'). The main European species is often eaten, called marsh samphire in Britain, and the main North American species is occasionally sold in grocery stores or appears on restaurant menus as sea beans, samphire greens or sea asparagus.
Description

The ''Salicornia'' species are small annual herbs. They grow prostrate to erect, their simple or branched stems are succulent, hairless, and appear to be jointed. The opposite
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 strongly reduced to small fleshy scales with a narrow dry margin, hairless, unstalked and united at the base, thus enclosing and forming a succulent sheath around the stem, which gives it the appearance of being composed of jointed segments.
[Ball, Peter W. (2004).]
''Salicornia'' L.
," in ''Flora of North America: North of Mexic
Volume 4: Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, part 1
'', Editorial Committee of the ''Flora of North America'' (Oxford University Press, 2004). . Online version retrieved August 10, 2016. Many species are green, but their foliage turns red in autumn. Older stems may be somewhat woody basally.
All stems terminate in spike-like apparently jointed
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
s. Each joint consists of two opposite minute bracts with a (1-) 3-flowered
cyme tightly embedded in cavities of the main axis and partly hidden by the bracts. The flowers are arranged in a triangle, both lateral flowers beneath the central flower. The hermaphrodite
flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s are more or less radially symmetric, with a
perianth
The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...
of three fleshy
tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s united nearly to the apex. There are 1–2
stamen
The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...
s and an ovary with two
stigmas.
The perianth is persistent in fruit. The fruit wall (pericarp) is membranous. The vertical seed is ellipsoid, with yellowish brown, membranous, hairy seed coat. The seed contains no
perisperm
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fema ...
(feeding tissue).
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 pathway to take in carbon dioxide from the surrounding atmosphere.
Taxonomy

The genus ''Salicornia'' was
first described in 1753 by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
. ''
Salicornia europaea
''Salicornia europaea'', known as marsh samphire, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophytic annual dicot flowering plant. Other common names include pickle weed, saltwort, and chicken toe (due to the shape). It is a succulent plant with ...
'' was selected as the
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
.
The genus probably originated during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
in the region between the
Mediterranean Basin and Central Asia. Evolving from within the perennial and frost-sensitive former genus ''Sarcocornia'' (now shown to be
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
),
[ the annual, strongly inbreeding and frost-tolerant ''Salicornia'' diversified during the late ]Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58[Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...](_blank)
. By events of intercontinental dispersals, they reached southern Africa twice and North America at least three times. Two tetraploid lineages expanded rapidly, with the ability to colonize lower belts of the salt marsh
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 saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...
es than their diploid relatives. Inbreeding and geographical isolation led to a large number of reproductive isolated species that are only weakly differentiated.
The taxonomic classification of this genus is extremely difficult (with one paper calling it a "taxonomic nightmare"). The determination of species seems almost impossible for non-specialists. The reasons for these difficulties are the reduced habit with weak morphological differentiation and high phenotypic variability. As the succulent plants lose their characteristics while drying, herbarium specimens often cannot be determined with certainty and are less suited for taxonomic studies.
Molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
studies have regularly revised the circumscription
Circumscription may refer to:
* Circumscribed circle
* Circumscription (logic)
*Circumscription (taxonomy)
* Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthr ...
of the genus. It was considered distinct from ''Sarcocornia'' in 2007 and 2012 studies. A 2017 study resulted in ''Sarcocornia'' being sunk into ''Salicornia'', substantially increasing the size of the genus, which was divided into four subgenera.
Species
, Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
History
Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
accepted the following species:
*'' Salicornia alpini'' Lag.
*''Salicornia ambigua
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, ...
'' Michx.
*''Salicornia andina
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, ...
'' Phil.
*''Salicornia bigelovii
''Salicornia bigelovii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common names dwarf saltwort and dwarf glasswort. It is native to coastal areas of the eastern and southern United States, Belize, and coastal Mexico ...
'' Torr.
*''Salicornia blackiana
''Salicornia blackiana'', synonym ''Sarcocornia blackiana'', commonly known as thick-head glasswort, is a species of succulent halophytic shrub. It is widespread in southern and western Australia, including Tasmania. Its preferred habitats ar ...
'' Ulbr.
*'' Salicornia brachiata'' Roxb.
*''Salicornia capensis
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, ...
'' (Moss) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia crassispica'' G.L.Chu
*'' Salicornia cuscoensis'' Gutte & G.K.Müll. ex Freitag, M.Á.Alonso & M.B.Crespo
*'' Salicornia decumbens'' (Toelken) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia decussata'' (S.Steffen, Mucina & G.Kadereit) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia disarticulata'' Moss
*'' Salicornia dunensis'' (Moss ex Adamson) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia erectispica'' G.L.Chu
*''Salicornia europaea
''Salicornia europaea'', known as marsh samphire, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophytic annual dicot flowering plant. Other common names include pickle weed, saltwort, and chicken toe (due to the shape). It is a succulent plant with ...
'' L.
*'' Salicornia fruticosa'' (L.) L.
*'' Salicornia globosa'' (Paul G.Wilson) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia helmutii'' Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia hispanica'' (Fuente, Rufo & Sánchez Mata) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia lagascae'' (Fuente, Rufo & Sánchez Mata) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia littorea'' (Moss) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia magellanica'' Phil.
*''Salicornia maritima
''Salicornia maritima'', the sea glasswort, is a succulent, salt-tolerant plant found along the eastern coast of North America, including Maine and New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bo ...
'' S.L.Wolff & Jefferies
* ''Salicornia'' × ''marshallii'' (Lambinon & Vanderp.) Stace
*'' Salicornia meyeriana'' Moss
*''Salicornia mossambicensis
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, ...
'' (Brenan) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia mossiana'' (Toelken) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia natalensis'' Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb.
*'' Salicornia neei'' Lag.
*'' Salicornia nitens'' P.W.Ball & Tutin
*'' Salicornia obclavata'' (Yaprak) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia obscura'' P.W.Ball & Tutin
*'' Salicornia pachystachya'' Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb.
*'' Salicornia pacifica'' Standl.
*'' Salicornia perennans'' Willd.
*''Salicornia perennis
''Salicornia perennis'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Sarcocornia perennis'', otherwise known as perennial glasswort, is a species of halophytes, halophytic perennial plant within the family Amaranthaceae. It has a widespread but patchy native di ...
'' Mill.
*'' Salicornia perrieri'' A.Chev.
*'' Salicornia persica'' Akhani
*'' Salicornia perspolitana'' Akhani
*'' Salicornia praecox'' A.Chev.
*'' Salicornia procumbens'' Sm.
*'' Salicornia pruinosa'' (Fuente, Rufo & Sánchez Mata) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia pulvinata'' R.E.Fr.
*'' Salicornia quinqueflora'' Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb.
*'' Salicornia rubra'' A.Nelson
*'' Salicornia senegalensis'' A.Chev.
*'' Salicornia sinus-persica'' Akhani
*'' Salicornia tegetaria'' (S.Steffen, Mucina & G.Kadereit) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia terminalis'' (Toelken) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
*'' Salicornia uniflora'' Toelken
*'' Salicornia utahensis'' Tidestr.
*'' Salicornia virginica'' L.
*'' Salicornia xerophila'' (Toelken) Piirainen & G.Kadereit
Distribution and habitat
The species of ''Salicornia'' are widely distributed over the Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
and in southern Africa, ranging from the subtropics
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately ...
to subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...
regions. There is one species present in New Zealand.
They grow in coastal salt marshes and in inland salty habitats like shores of salt lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...
s. ''Salicornia'' species are halophyte
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. ...
s and can generally tolerate immersion in salt water (hygrohalophytes).
Ecology
''Salicornia'' species are used as food plants by the larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
species, including the ''Coleophora
''Coleophora'' is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions. Many authors have t ...
'' case-bearers ''C. atriplicis'' and ''C. salicorniae''; the latter feeds exclusively on ''Salicornia'' spp.
Uses
Culinary
''S. europaea'' is edible, either cooked or raw,["Salicornia"](_blank)
, page of th
''Plants for a Future'' website
. Retrieved July 14, 2007. as are '' S. rubra'' and ''S. depressa''. In England, ''S. europaea'' is one of several plants known as ''samphire'' (including rock samphire
''Crithmum'' is a monospecific genus of flowering plant in the carrot family, Apiaceae. The sole species, ''Crithmum maritimum'', is commonly known as rock samphire, sea fennel or samphire. It is found in parts of the Old World and is edib ...
); the term samphire is believed to be a corruption of the French name, ''erbe de
Erbe may refer to: People
*Bonnie Erbé (born 1954), American journalist and television host
*Christine Erbe, German-Australian physicist
*Eugen Edmund Eduard Erbe (1847–1908), Baltic German politician, former mayor of Reval (now Tallinn)
*Joan E ...
Saint-Pierre'', which means "St. Peter's herb".
In Hawaii, where it is known as 'sea asparagus', it is often blanched and used as a topping for salads or accompaniment for fish.
In addition to ''S. europaea'', the seeds of '' S. bigelovii'' yield an edible oil. ''S. bigelovii'''s edibility is compromised somewhat because it contains saponins
Saponins (Latin ''sapon'', 'soap' + ''-in'', 'one of') are bitter-tasting, usually toxic plant-derived secondary metabolites. They are Organic compound, organic chemicals that become foamy when agitated in water and have high Molar mass, molecul ...
, which are toxic under certain conditions.
Umari keerai ('' S. brachiata'') is cooked and eaten or pickled. It is also used as fodder for cattle, sheep and goats.[''Salicornia, oil-yielding plant for coastal belts'', The Hindu](_blank)
/ref> In Kalpitiya
Kalpitiya (, ) is a coastal town located in western region of Puttalam District. The Kalpitiya peninsula consists of a total fourteen islands. It is developing as a tourist destination.
Etymology
Scholars identify the Sinhalese name "Kalapiti ...
, Sri Lanka, it is used to feed donkeys.
On the east coast of Canada, the plant is known as 'samphire greens' and is a local delicacy. In southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...
, it is known as beach asparagus. In Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, Canada, they are known as crow's foot greens. In British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, they are known as sea asparagus. In the United States, they are known as 'sea beans' when used for culinary purposes. Other names include sea green bean, sea pickle, and marsh samphire.
In India, researchers at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute developed a process to yield culinary salt from ''S. brachiata.'' The resulting product is known as ''vegetable salt'' and sold under the brand name Saloni.
Dehydrated, pulverized ''Salicornia'' is sold under the brand name "Green Salt" as a salt substitute
A salt substitute, also known as low-sodium salt, is a low-sodium alternative to edible salt (table salt) marketed to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease associated with a high intake of sodium chloride while maintai ...
claimed to be as salty in taste as table salt, but with less sodium.
Pharmacological research
In South Korea, Phyto Corporation has developed a technology of extracting low-sodium salt from ''S. europaea'', a salt-accumulating plant. The company claims that the naturally derived plant salt is effective in treating high blood pressure
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms itself. It is, however, a major ri ...
and fatty liver disease
Fatty liver disease (FLD), also known as hepatic steatosis and steatotic liver disease (SLD), is a condition where excess fat builds up in the liver. Often there are no or few symptoms. Occasionally there may be tiredness or pain in the upper r ...
by reducing sodium intake. The company has also developed a desalted ''Salicornia'' powder containing antioxidative
Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. Autoxidation leads to degradation of organic compounds, including living matter. Antioxidants are frequently added to industrial products, s ...
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
Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...
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
Pickleweed Pickleweed is a common name used for two unrelated genera of flowering plants:
*'' Batis'', family Bataceae
*''Salicornia
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow i ...
is used in phytoextraction Phytoextraction is a subprocess of phytoremediation in which plants remove dangerous elements or compounds from soil or water, most usually heavy metals, metals that have a high density and may be toxic to organisms even at relatively low concentrat ...
. It is highly effective at removing selenium
Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...
from soil, which is absorbed by the plant and then released into the atmosphere to be dispersed by prevailing winds. Pickleweed (''S. bigelovii'') has been found to have average volatilization
Pesticide drift, also known as spray drift, is the unintentional diffusion of pesticides toward nontarget species. It is one of the most negative effects of pesticide application. Drift can damage human health, environment, and crops. Together ...
rates 10–100 times higher than other species.
Industrial use
Historical
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 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 industrial production of soda ash superseded the use of plant sources in the first half of the 19th century.
Umari keerai is used as raw material in paper and board factories.
Contemporary
Because ''S. bigelovii'' can be grown using saltwater and its seeds contain high levels of unsaturated oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
(30 wt. %, mostly linoleic acid
Linoleic acid (LA) is an organic compound with the formula . Both alkene groups () are ''cis''. It is a fatty acid sometimes denoted 18:2 (n−6) or 18:2 ''cis''-9,12. A linoleate is a salt or ester of this acid.
Linoleic acid is a polyunsat ...
) and protein (35 wt. %), it can be used to produce animal feedstuff and as a biofuel feedstock on coastal land where conventional crops cannot be grown. Adding nitrogen-based fertiliser
A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...
to the seawater appears to increase the rate of growth and the eventual height of the plant, and the effluent from marine aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
(e.g. shrimp farm
Shrimp farming is a form of aquaculture that takes place in marine or freshwater environments, producing shrimp or prawns (crustaceans of the groups Caridea or Dendrobranchiata) for human consumption. However, the industry has raised concerns abou ...
ing) is a suggested use for this purpose.
Experimental fields of ''Salicornia'' have been planted in Ras al-Zawr (Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
), Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
(northeast Africa) and Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...
(northwest Mexico) aimed at the production of biodiesel
Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats.
The roots of bi ...
. The company responsible for the Sonora trials (Global Seawater) claims between 225 and 250 gallon
The gallon is a unit of volume in British imperial units and United States customary units.
The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as , and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia ...
s of BQ-9000 biodiesel can be produced per hectare (approximately 2.5 acres) of salicornia, and is promoting a $35 million scheme to create a salicornia farm in Bahia de Kino
Bahia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest by area. Bahia's capita ...
.
Stem
Stem or STEM most commonly refers to:
* Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant
* Stem group
* Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Stem or STEM can also refer to:
Language and writing
* Word stem, part of a word respon ...
s and root
In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
s of ''S. brachiata'' plants have a high cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...
content (ca. 30 wt. %), whereas tender stem tips exhibit a low cellulose content (9.2 wt. %). ''S. brachiata'' revealed the dominance of rhamnose
Rhamnose (Rha, Rham) is a naturally occurring deoxy sugar. It can be classified as either a methyl- pentose or a 6-deoxy- hexose. Rhamnose predominantly occurs in nature in its L-form as L-rhamnose (6-deoxy-L- mannose). This is unusual, since mo ...
, arabinose
Arabinose is an aldopentose – a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde (CHO) functional group.
Properties
For biosynthetic reasons, most saccharides are almost always more abundant in nature as the "D"-form, o ...
, mannose
Mannose is a sugar with the formula , which sometimes is abbreviated Man. It is one of the monomers of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylatio ...
, galactose
Galactose (, ''wikt:galacto-, galacto-'' + ''wikt:-ose#Suffix 2, -ose'', ), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweetness, sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epime ...
, and glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...
, with meager presence of ribose
Ribose is a simple sugar and carbohydrate with molecular formula C5H10O5 and the linear-form composition H−(C=O)−(CHOH)4−H. The naturally occurring form, , is a component of the ribonucleotides from which RNA is built, and so this comp ...
and xylose
Xylose ( , , "wood") is a sugar first isolated from wood, and named for it. Xylose is classified as a monosaccharide of the aldopentose type, which means that it contains five carbon atoms and includes an aldehyde functional group. It is deriv ...
in their structural polysaccharide
Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long-chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wat ...
.
See also
* Arid Forest Research Institute
Arid Forest Research Institute (ICFRE-AFRI) is a research institute situated in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The institute conducts scientific research in forestry in order to provide technologies to increase the Permanent vegetative cover, vege ...
* Batis
* Sea grapes
References
External links
*
*
BBC Good Food Channel
- recipes for both 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 ...
and rock samphire
''Crithmum'' is a monospecific genus of flowering plant in the carrot family, Apiaceae. The sole species, ''Crithmum maritimum'', is commonly known as rock samphire, sea fennel or samphire. It is found in parts of the Old World and is edib ...
.
Biff Vernon
discusses the common confusion between marsh samphire and rock samphire, and reproduces a poem on the subject by William Logan.
Robert Freedman
running a seawater farm in Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
with Salicornia to produce oil, food and store carbon dioxide
{{Taxonbar, from=Q159525
Halophytes
Salt marsh plants
Amaranthaceae genera
Barilla plants