SUAEDA 
■83 
British species of Suaeda 
1. S. fruticosa (see below). Perennial. Leaves evergreen, short (5 — 6 mm.), subcylindrical. 
Stigmas 3. Seeds vertical. 
2. S. maritima (see below). Annual. Leaves plano-convex, usually about twice to three 
times as long as those of S. fruticosa. Stigmas 2. Seeds horizontal. 
I. SUAEDA FRUTICOSA. Plate 189 
Blitum fruticosum maritimum vermicularis frutex dictum Ray Syn. ed. 3, 156 (1724) excl. syn. 
Suaeda fruticosa Forskal FI. Aegypt. Arab. 70 (1775); Moquin Chenop. Monogr. Enum. 122 (1840); in 
DC .Prodr. xiii, pt. ii, 156 (1849); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 2 (1868); Chenopodium fruticosum L. Sp. PI. 221 (1753); 
Salsola fruticosa L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 324 (1763); Smith Eng. Bot. no. 635 (1799); FI. Brit. 280 (1800); Eng. Ft. 
ii, 18 (1828). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 635, as Salsola fruticosa. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 189. (a) Terminal flowering branches. ( b ) Lateral barren branches, (c) Lower part 
of an old stem, (d) Flowers (two enlarged), (e) Achene, surrounded by persistent calyx. Norfolk (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 3194; Welwitsch (Iter. Lusit.), 130, as Chenopodium fruticosum. 
Small shrub. Root penetrating deeply into the soil. Stem erect, up to about 1 m. high or rather 
more, stout. Branches numerous, suberect or ascending, 
very leafy, glabrous, subterranean ones often numerous 
and rooting freely. Leaves almost terete, obtuse, crowded 
especially towards the ends of the branches, evergreen 
5 — 6 mm. long and 1 mm. broad. Flowers in small cymes 
of 1 — 3 flowers; mid-July to September. Stigmas 3. 
Seeds ovoid, vertical, shining ; September and October. 
It would scarcely be thought that such an unequivocal species as 
Suaeda fruticosa would have provided difficulties for British geographical 
botanists : such, however, is actually the case. We can only suppose 
that the erroneous records have been made by those who were quite 
unfamiliar with the plant, and who have mistaken stout forms of 
S. maritima for the perennial species. We have seen the plant in 
Dorset and Norfolk, in both of which counties it is locally abundant. 
There are records of it for Hampshire and Sussex ; but neither 
Mr A. Bennett nor ourselves have seen specimens from these counties. 
It was recorded for Lincolnshire, by the Rev. J. Dodsworth, in 1836: 
“as he knew [ 5 . maritima]..., he can hardly have been mistaken” 
(Rev. E. A. Woodruffe Peacock in The Naturalist, 184 (1896)). Of the remaining records, some refer to stations where 
the plant has occurred as an alien near docks, and others are errors. 
Shingle-banks, margins of shingle-banks and salt-marshes, and sea-walls. Dorset, Essex, Suffolk, 
Norfolk, and Lincolnshire (extinct); Wales — Glamorganshire (? indigenous). Records for other 
counties are either errors for S', maritima, or are doubtful, or only refer to the adventitious 
occurrence of the plant, as in the vicinity of docks. 
France (rare in the north, more abundant in the west and south), southern Europe ; northern 
Africa; south-western Asia and the East Indies. 
Map 43. Suaeda fruticosa occurs in the counties which 
are shaded, and has been recorded for the counties marked 
with a 
2. SUAEDA MARITIMA. Sea Blite. Plates 190, 191 
Kali minus Johnson in Gerard Herb. ed. 2, 535 (1636); K. minus album Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 279 (1640); 
Blitum kali minus album dictum Ray Syn. ed. 3, 156 (1724). 
Suaeda maritima [Du Mortier FI. Belg. 22 (1827) nomen] Moquin in Ann. Sc. Nat. xxiii, 308 (1831) 
incl. S', macrocarpa ; Babington Manual ed. 3, 266 (1851); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 3 (1868); Rouy FI. France xii, 
63 (1910); Chenopodium maritimum L. Sp. PI. 221 (1753); Smith Eng. Bot. no. 633 (1799); Eng. FI. ii, 16 
(1824); Suaeda chenopodio'ides Pallas III. Plant. 56 (1803); Schoberia maritima C. A. Meyer in Ledebour FI. 
Altaica i, 400 (1829); Chenopodina maritima Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii, pt. ii, 161 (1849). 
Annual. Stem erect, decumbent, or prostrate, up to about half a metre in length. Leaves 
plano-convex, subacute to acuminate, up to about 1 ’5 cm. long and 1 — 4 mm. broad. Flowers 
