. . ;/: ; .- -. 



*" ' .'' '. " , . I**.,- //.SALlCORNIA. [CLASS i. ORDER i. 



lobed membraneous sheath. Stem woody within. Flowers in close 

 spikes, lateral, and terminal in short joints, bearing at the base of the 

 articulations two clusters of three flowers each. Stigma two or three 

 cleft. Stamen one or two. 



Habitat. Frequent in salt marshes. 



Annual ; flowering in August and September. 



2. S. radi'cans, (Fig. 2.) creeping Glasswort. Stem woody, procum- 

 bent and taking root, joints compressed and notched at the 

 top, interstices cylindrical, spikes oblong, obtuse. 



English Botany, t. 1691 ; and S.fruticosa, t. 2467. English Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 3. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 214. Hooker, British Flora, vol. 

 i. p. 2. 



Stem perennial and spreading. This varies but little from S. lier- 

 bacea, except in its more spreading slender branches and perennial 

 woody stem. The S.fruticosa of the English Botany, t. 2467, and 

 the English Flora, p. 3, is only a variety or imperfect plant of the pre- 

 sent species. 



Habitat. Muddy sea-shores ; rare. 



Perennial ; flowering in August and September. 



The various species of this genus of plants are found on the sea- 

 coasts of most parts of the world, and are of great importance from the 

 soda which they produce. In the south of France, and on the Medi- 

 terranean shores of Spain, they are made an object of extensive culti- 

 vation. Attempts have been made to cultivate them inland, but it was 

 found that instead of producing soda, as when grown on the sea-coasts, 

 they only contained potash : from which it appears that air impregnated 

 with saline particles is necessary to the production of soda. When 

 burned, their ashes form the barilla of commerce ; dissolved in water, 

 and crystallised, it obtains the name of soda ; impregnated with car- 

 bonic acid gas, it forms the carbonate of soda of the shops ; and from 

 soda being used in the manufactory of soap and glass, the genus has 

 derived the English name, Glasswort. Soda, called also fossil oY mi- 

 neral alkali, natron by the Germans and Swedes, and nitrum by the 

 ancients, is now abundantly procured from common salt, which exists 

 in vast quantities in the waters of the ocean. It was demonstrated by 

 Sir H. Davy, in a series of experiments with the galvanic battery, by 

 which he made some of the most brilliant discoveries in the science of 

 Chemistry, that soda is composed of a metal, to which he gave the 

 name of sodium, and oxygen gas of the atmosphere. Salicomia is 

 frequently gathered by the country people, and sold for Samphire 

 (Crithmum maritimum); and is said not to be inferior to it when 

 pickled wkh vinegar. 



