SALICORNIA 
187 
Genus 1. Salicornia 
By C. E. MOSS and E. J. SALISBURY, D.Sc., F.L.S. 
Salicornia [Tournefort Inst. t. 485 ( 1 7 1 9)] L. Sp. PL 3 ( 1 75 3 ) e * Gen. PI. ed. 5, 4 (1754); Grenier et 
Godron FI. France iii, 27 (1855); Duval-Jouve in Bull. Soc. Bot. France xv, 170 (1868); Moss in Journ. Bot. 
xlix, 177 (1911). 
Undershrubs or annual herbs, inhabiting inland and maritime salt-marshes. Stem usually much 
branched. Leaves succulent, opposite and decussate ; the opposite pairs fused along their margins 
and thus forming “segments”; segments surrounding the stem, usually free at the tip, very 
smooth and translucent, glabrous. Inflorescences in terminal spikes ; spikes usually compound, with 
a sterile segment at the base ; the partial inflorescences consisting of cymes of usually 3 flowers, 
rarely of more in some foreign species, and of 1 in S. disarticulata. Perianth 4-partite or 3-partite, 
segments ill-defined, sunk in the leaves ( = bracts) of the spike. Bracteoles absent. Stamens 
1 — 2; if 2, appearing in succession. Radicle incumbent. Endosperm absent in the British forms. 
Testa either thick and tuberculate, or (in the British forms) thin and covered with fine hairs which 
are more or less curved or coiled at the tip. 
In this work, we omit, as a rule, references to the internal structure of plants. In Salicornia, however, the occurrence 
and distribution of stereids (or lignified strengthening cells) and of spirally marked water-containing cells in the mesophyll of 
the leaf are of unusual interest in relation to the determination of species. Accordingly we supply the following details from 
the work of Dr Ethel de Fraine (in Journ. Linn. Soc. xli, pp. 330 — 334 (1913)) with regard to the British species and their 
allies. In S. glauca Delile (a Mediterranean species), stereids alone occur, and these are of comparatively large size. In 
S. fruticosa L. (a widespread species occurring in France but not in the British Isles), both stereids and spiral cells occur, 
the latter being limited to the palisade leaf-tissue. Both stereids and spiral cells occur in A', perennis var. radicans (Smith) 
Moss and Salisbury, S. perennis var. lignosa (Woods) Moss, 3 . gracillima (Townsend) Moss, and S. disarticulata Moss: in 
these species the stereids occur in the reproductive shoots alone, whilst in S. fruticosa L. they occur in both the vegetative 
shoots and the reproductive shoots. In the following species, stereids are absent : — A. dolichostachya Moss, S. herbacea L., 
S. ramosissima Woods, A. pusilla Woods, A. prostrata var. smithiana (Moss) Moss and Salisbury, S. prostrata var. pallasi 
Moss and Salisbury, A 1 , prostrata var. appressa (Du Mortier) Moss and Salisbury, and S. oliveri Moss : of these species, spiral 
cells also are absent in A 1 , dolichostachya Moss and S. oliveri Moss, whilst in the others, spiral cells occur chiefly in the re- 
productive shoots. The occurrence of stereids in S. gracillima and 5 . disarticulata was quite unexpected ; and the fact of 
their occurrence in S. gracillima makes it impossible to associate the plant with S. pusilla , as was done by Townsend {FI. 
Hampshire, ed. 2, 640 (1904)). 
The British species belong to the subgenus Eu-Salicornia (Grenier et Godron FI. France iii, 27 (1855); Moss in Journ. 
Bot. xlix, 178 (1911)) which may be distinguished from the subgenus Arthrocnemum (Grenier et Godron op. cit . ; Moss op. cit.) 
by the much thinner seed-coat, by the hairs of the seed-coat, and usually by the absence of endosperm. The non-British 
species 3 . Jruticosa (L. Sp. FI. ed. 2, 5 (1762)) connects the two subgenera, and was placed in Arthrocnemum by Moquin. 
Moquin also placed the British perennial species in the same genus : this is curious, for the latter species {S. perennis ) 
possesses none of the characters of Moquin’s genus Arthrocnemum. 
So far as our experience goes, herbarium specimens of Salicornia are more unsatisfactory than in any other British genus. 
Not only do these plants dry badly, but they are frequently gathered before they are in flower. In fact, it is surprising 
what a large number of botanists there are who have never observed the flowers of Salicornia. As regards the British Isles, 
none of the species comes into flower before mid-August in average years ; and several of them do not begin to flower 
until the end of August or the beginning of September. The seeds take about 5 to 8 weeks to ripen. 
About 25 species; cosmopolitan in saline districts. 
British sections of Salicornia 
Section I. Pseudo- Arthrocnemum (see p. 188). Perennial undershrubs. Stem much branched, 
erect or decumbent. Branches — some remaining barren — and others terminated by a flowering spike. 
Flowers protogynous. Spikes stout, cylindrical, blunt, up to about 3 — 4 mm. broad. Cymes 3-flowered, 
the central flower broad-based, the lateral flowers separated by the median one. Perianth with 
4 segments. Stamens 2. Stigmas bifid. Testa subtuberculate or covered with numerous nearly 
straight or slightly curved hairs, hairs not coiled at the tip. 
Section II. Salicorniella (p. 189). Annual herbs. Stem erect, decumbent, or prostrate. 
Branches often numerous, all terminated by a flowering spike. Flowers protandrous. Spikes more 
slender than in Pseudo- Arthrocnemum. Cymes usually 3-flowered, 1 -flowered in S. disarticulata , 
the median flower cuneate at the base, the lateral flowers usually contiguous and placed below 
the median one. Stamens usually 1. Stigmas tufted. Testa thin, covered with slender hairs 
which are circinately coiled at the tip. 
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