492 CHENOPODiACE^. [Salicomia. 



Stigmas bi-trifid. Fruit a utricle, included in the enlarged 

 perianth." — Br. Fl. 



1. S. herbacea, L. Jointed Glasswort. Saltivort. Sea Sam- 

 phire. Stem herbaceous, articulations compressed somewhat 

 thickened upwards and notched, spikes cylindrical slightly taper- 

 ing at the extremity. 



a. Stem erect. S. annua, E. B. vi. t. 415. S. herb., Sm. E. FL i. p. 2. Br. 

 FL p. 350. 



/3. Stems prostrate. S. procumljens ? 8m. E. FL i. p. 2. E. B. xxxv. t. 2475 .f 



In muddy salt-marshes ; abundant. J'/. August, September. 0. 



On each side of the Medina abme Cowes ; shores of the Woottun ri\er, and 

 about the Yar; salt-marshes at Bradina;, Newtown, &c., abundantly. 



/3. Muddy shore of Yarmouth harbour. Abundantly'Vith a. in the Newtown 

 salt-marshes, as by Newtown saltern, &c.* 



A very smooth, succulent, jointed and leafless herb. Root whitish, stout, taper- 

 ing, more or less branched, often nearly simple, of a hard woody texture, though 

 annual, composed, like that of Schoberia maritima, of numerous concentric layers 

 of ligneous fibre. Stem from 5 or 6 to 12 inches high, oppositely and in the 

 larger plants copiously branched from the bottom, the lowermost branches ascend- 

 ing or even procumbent at the base, where, like the main stem, they are obtusely 

 quadrangular, almost woody and covered with a thin grayish brown cuticle, suc- 

 culent above and composed of successive subcom pressed or nearly cylindrical arti- 

 culations, a little thickened upwards and slightly notched or 2-lobed at the sum- 

 mit, where a socket is formed for the articulation immediately succeeding, and 

 sheathing the pair of short, opposite and nearly erect branches bearing the 

 flowering spikes. 



I hardly know how this is to be distinguished from S. radicans, exceptiu;;: by 

 its more herbaceous texture, yet Mr. Borrer is of opinion they are really distinct 

 species. The erect variety of ;S. herhacea abounds all along the Yar, and is con- 

 spicuous at a distance from its lively green colour, which in the common form is 

 commonly softened down by an admixture of yellow or reddish brown. 



This species, with others of the same genus and of Satsola, yields by combus- 

 tion the Barilla of commerce, from which soda is extracted for glass-making and 

 other purposes, whence the English name. The shores of the Mediterranean pro- 

 duce the greatest quantity both of the wild and cultivated plants, but at the pre- 

 sent day is far less in request than formerly, as much of the soda employed in the 

 arts is obtained more economically by the decomposition of common salt. 



3. S. radicans, Sm. Creeping Glasswort. " Stem woody pro- 

 cumbent and rooting, articulations comjDressed spreading and 

 notched at the top scarcely thickened, spikes oblong obtuse." — 

 Br. Fl. p. 351. E. B. t. 1691. 



In similar situations with the preceding, from which I fear it is not specifically 

 distinct. Fl. August, September. Zf . 



E. Med. — On the Dover, Ryde, [Bradiug harbour, A. G. More, Esq., Edrs.] 



W. Med. — By the Medina above W. Cowes, on the edges of the little salt- 

 pools left by the ebbing of the tide. Abundant in Newtown salt-marshes. 



Sir W. Hooker justly observ^ that this species "scarcely differs from the pre- 

 ceding except in its more brancSuing, straggling, and -perennial stem, quite woody 



* "A large state of this plant, 1 — 2 feet high, with a woody stem, and much 

 resembling S.fruticosa, L., occurs in the salt-marshes near Portsmouth. Profes- 

 sor Don however considers it merely as a (perennial ?) form of S. herbacea." — 

 Macreight, Man. of Br. Bot. p. 195. Is this the S.fruticosa of Sm. Engl. Fl. i. 

 p. 3.^ 



