194 
SA LICORNI A 
Annual. Stem erect, usually about io — 15, rarely up to about 20 cm. high ; branches regular, 
basal ones rarely twice or thrice as long as the upper ones ; 
all or all except the basal ones short (up to about 2-0 — 2-5 cm. 
long), ascending, parallel, subequal in size, usually reddish or 
red. Spikes obtuse ; terminal ones short, up to about 6 — 10 mm. 
long, stout with 2 — 4 flowering segments, segments about 3 mm. 
long, sterile segment at base 2*5 — 3'o mm. long. Flowers — lateral 
ones about half as big as the central one, central one reaching to 
less than one-third from the top of the segment ; late August and 
September. Stamens 1 to each flower. Seeds with crozier-shaped 
hairs ; October. 
Anatomically 5 . gracillima and A. disarticulata may be distinguished from 
all the other herbaceous species by the occurrence of strengthening stereids in 
the reproductive segments. 
So far as the characters and distribution of 5 . gracillima are concerned, 
the view that the plant is a hybrid of S. disarticulata and S. ramosissima 
or 6 1 . pusilla is a tenable one ; but no experiments have ever been made in 
hybridising forms of Salicornia. 
Locally abundant on the drier parts of salt-marshes ; Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, 
Sussex, Norfolk, and doubtless elsewhere. Not definitely known outside England. 
S. disarticulata x gracillima (p. 196). 
7. SALICORNIA PROSTRATA. Plates 203, 204, 205 
Salicornia prostrata Pallas III. Plant. 8 (1803); Moss in Journ. Bot. xlix, 184 ( 1 9 1 1 ) including .S. 
smit hiana p. 183, et .S', appressa p. 184. 
Annual. Stem usually prostrate, more rarely ascending from a procumbent base, usually much 
branched ; the two lowest branches usually bent backwards, forming an angle greater than a 
right-angle with the main stem which is scarcely longer than the two lowest branches. Segments 
green, dingy red, or bright red. Terminal spikes short, up to about 20 mm. long but often shorter, 
acute or obtuse. Flowers variable in size, lateral ones smaller and often much smaller than the 
central one ; mid-August to September. Stamens 1 to each flower. 
We retain the prostrate British forms of the series Herbaceae as a separate species, though not without some mis- 
givings. We suspect that the forms in question may ultimately prove to have originated from the erect species. For 
example, var. appressa is very closely allied to 5 . ramosissima , and forms of var. smithiana to S. dolichostachya, S. herbacea 
forma patula , and 5 . pusilla. More observations and if possible cultural experiments are necessary before this matter can be 
definitely settled. It is, however, no easy matter to grow species of Salicornia , especially the herbaceous ones, under cultural 
conditions. So far, our own efforts in this direction have met with little success. To grow these plants with success, it 
appears first to be necessary to obtain a successful colony of the filamentous Algae which are abundant on salt-marshes 
and which indeed appear to be ecologically the most important plants of any salt-marsh. The seeds of the flowering- 
plants of the salt-marsh are caught in the filaments of the Algae : the filaments keep the ground and the seedlings moist, 
and serve as a mulch to protect the young growing plants. In culture the erect forms tend to topple over; and thus the 
natural habit of the plants is obscured. 
An allied plant is S. oliverP (Moss in Journ. Bot. xlix, 183 (1911)). It is simply branched: the branches spread 
at wide angles: all the flowering spikes are large (about 8 — 15 mm. long), cylindrical, obtuse, and with about 7 — 10 
flowering segments : the flowers are nearly equal in size. It occurs in northern Brittany on mobile sand which is fre- 
quently tide-washed, and should be looked for in southern England. 
(a) S. prostrata var. smithiana Moss and Salisbury in Camb. Brit. FI. ii, 194; 5 . smithiana Moss in Journ. 
Bot. xlix, 183 ( 1 9 1 1 ). 
leones : — Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 203. ( a ) Whole plant in the fruiting state. ( b ) A terminal and two 
lateral spikes (enlarged), (c) Seeds (enlarged). Lincolnshire (C. E. M.). Plate 2op. ( a ) Whole plant in the 
fruiting state, (b) A terminal and two lateral spikes (enlarged). Somerset (E. S. M.). 
Exsiccata : — Herb. Marshall, 3549. This is the plant illustrated in Plate 203. 
Stem prostrate, procumbent, or ascending from a procumbent base, very variable in length. 
Branches few or many, when much branched the two lowest branches are long and make an angle 
bigger than a right angle with the main stem, as in var. appressa. Spikes very slightly tapering, 
blunt, about 10 — 20 mm. long, sterile basal segment about 3 — 6 mm. long. Flowers — mid-August to 
September ; central flower about two-thirds as high as the segment and about twice as large as the 
lateral ones. Stamens 1 to each flower. 
1 After its discoverer, Professor F. W. Oliver. 
