SALTWORT 20I 



TIk' plant is a salt-lover and rciiuircs a saline soil, and is also a 

 sand pl.uu, and ijrows on sand soil, or a rock plant, ijrowin^ on rocks. 



It is galled by Mciiiiiis col/ans, a lu'elk-. A Tin sanopleroiis 

 insect, J/in/>s s/z/xr/ra, is lonnil on it, also two moths, l-'imun rctiiclla, 

 GcUchia inslabilclla. 



Planlago, Plin\, may be from the Latin //cc/zA?, sole ol" foot, from 

 the shape of the leaf, and the second Latin name indicates its 

 habitat. 



This mai-ilinu- species is known 1 1\ the nanus of I'.nck's horn, 

 Bucks-horn I'laiuain, ('iilil)als, .Sea l\cin[)s, .Sea I'laiUain. 



Lij^httoot relates how he "went to Rummy Marshes, about two 

 miles from Cardiff, where we saw lar^e crops of the P/mi/cioo ntarihii/a, 

 caird here by the people Gibbals, which the hoi^s are \(ry fond of 

 They root up the roots as we .saw, and grow fat u])on them, as we 

 were assured." 



EsSKXTI.JlI, Sl'KCIKIC ClIARACTKRS : 



263. /^/(7t//aoo ))iariti})ia, L. — I'lowering stem a sca[)e, leaves 

 radical, fleshy, linear, convex below, scape terete, flowers 3-4, sepals 

 not winged. 



Saltwort (.Salsola Kali, L. ) 



riiis is (|uiic unrrpresc-nted as a maritime species in earl)- deposits. 

 It is foimd in the \orih Temperate Zone in L^urope, N. and .S. .Xh'ica, 

 anil X. and W. Asia. India, N. and S. America, Australia. In dreat 

 L>ritain it does not grow in W. Sussex, S. F-l. Yorks, Renfrew, Mid 

 T^budes, W. Ross, \\'. .Simderland, the Orkneys, and the Shetlanils. 

 It ranges from Caithness to the south coast, and is found in Ireland 

 and the Channel Islands. 



Saltwort is a maritime species, a typical salt-lo\er, on which account 

 indeed it is used commercially to obtain salt, and is found on all the 

 sandv coasts of Great Britain, growing in the same habitats as .Sea 

 Blite, Samphire, and many other true salt-lovers, abounding in salt 

 and yielding alkali, whence the Latin, Araliic, and I'.nglisli names. 



Saltwort is a spreading or prostrate plant, with hairy, limp, or lleshy 

 stems. The leaves are awl-.shaped, bluntly terminated with a sharj) 

 point, spinous, hairy, sub-cylindrical. The stem is finely furrowed, 

 branched, wavy, angular, and rigid. 



The flowers are small, single, pink, inconspicuous, with the winged 

 appendages of the calyx spreading, scarious, or with a mc-mbranous 

 margin, rose-coloured. The bracts or leaflike organs are 3, .spinous. 

 The segments of the perianth are as long as the appendages. The 



