204 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Sea Rosemary, Shrubby Stonecrop, are other 

 names by which the plant is known. The old method 

 of making use of barilla or soda has been super- 

 seded by the manufacture of soda from salt. Barilla 

 is an impure carbonate of soda and was used for 

 glass-blowing. 



SUiEDA FRUTicosA. — III Fig. 58 the shrub-like 

 character is shown, with the crowded, linear leaves, and 

 indications of the flowers in the axils. 



Saltwort {Salsola Kali). 



Like the last the Saltwort was one of those plants 

 used for barilla, abounding in carbonate of soda (hence 

 Salsola), and Kali is Arabic for alkali. 



Found around all the British coasts the plant is 

 native also in the Channel Islands, being more or less 

 frequent from Caithness to Cornwall. 



Sandy seashores, maritime sands and salt marshes 

 are the habitats of the Saltwort. It is one of the 

 strand plants which take the place of a sand-dune 

 formation where no dunes are formed. But it is 

 most typical of the sand-dune formation, perhaps, 

 growling in the loose sand amongst the Marram or 

 Lyme Grass or other sand-fixing plants. 



Prostrate at first, the plant is finally ascending. 

 It is a very prickly plant, a character which at once 

 identifies it, for though the Sea Hollies have the 

 same feature their leaves are broad and not linear as 

 in this case. It is herbaceous, smooth or sparingly 

 hairy, rough, bluish-green, rigid, much branched. 



