Salicornia L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Amaranthaceae

• Scientific Name

  Salicornia L.

• Description

  Genus Description - Fls perfect or pistillate, in groups of 3 and deeply sunken in pits in the axis of a fleshy spike above the axils of scale-like bracts; cal obpyramidal, fleshy, not lobed, opening by a small terminal slit only, becoming spongy at maturity; stamens 1 or 2, the anthers exsert; ovary laterally compressed; styles 2, short; fr enclosed in the cal, the pericarp none; annual or perennial succulent herbs with jointed, usually freely branched stems, the lvs reduced to minute, opposite, scarcely projecting scales; uppermost scales crowded, forming a cylindric terminal spike. All spp. vary greatly in height and branching; all branches normally terminate in a spike, the fls appearing in late summer. The plants often turn bright red in autumn. (Sarcocornia) 25, widespread.

• Common Names

  glasswort, samphire