144 Halket .— The Effect of Salt on the Growth of Salicornia . 
comparatively small, and of this number the various species of Salicornia 
and Suaeda occupy the most exposed positions, and may perhaps be 
regarded as among the most typical of the plants. They are very succulent 
and contain a considerable amount of sodium chloride in their tissues. It 
seems to follow from the culture experiments of Batalin that at least one of 
these plants, e. g. Salicornia herbacea , L., has become so specialized as to 
require sodium chloride for its normal development, though it can grow in 
ordinary soils when freed from the competition of other plants. 
The effect of salt on the growth of plants is somewhat uncertain. 
Lesage 1 found that the height of plants of Lepidium sativum decreased 
with the increase of sodium chloride in the soil, while Stange 2 found that 
plants treated with certain salt solutions, e. g. of potassium nitrate, also 
decreased in height. With regard to the salt marsh plants themselves, 
Ganong, 3 describing the plants found on the Bay of Fundy marshes, says 
of Salicornia herbacea , L., that the plants varied f in size inversely with the 
saltness of the habitat ’. It was in the endeavour to obtain more informa¬ 
tion of the effect of sodium chloride that, some years ago at the suggestion 
of Professor F. W. Oliver, I made some experiments on the growth of these 
plants. I would like here to thank Professor Oliver for suggesting this 
work to me, and also for his kindness in bringing the seedling plants from 
the Bouche d’Erquy and for taking the photograph from which PL VIII 
was made. 
The experiments were made with Salicornia and Suaeda seedlings, 
which were cultivated in the presence of various amounts of sodium 
chloride. In this way the effect of different amounts of salt on the growth 
of the plants was ascertained. 
The experiments were of two kinds and may be considered under the 
two following divisions: 
I. Seedlings cultivated on their natural soil, and treated with solutions 
containing various percentages of Tidman’s sea salt. 
II. Seedlings cultivated in nutritive solutions to which definite quantities 
of sodium chloride had been added. 
I. 
Pieces of turf were brought from the Bouche d’Erquy in Brittany. The 
turf was composed chiefly of seedlings of Salicornia ramosissima or Suaeda 
maritima and of Glyceria maritima . The turf had been obtained from 
different parts of the marsh, so that some pieces bore Salicornia seedlings 
and Glyceria , while others had Suaeda seedlings and Glyceria. Sods were 
cut from the turf so that they just fitted into shallow porous earthenware 
1 Lesage, loc. cit. 
2 Stange, B.: Beziehungen zwischen Substratconcentration, Turgor und Wachsthum bei einigen 
phanerogamen Pflanzen. Bot. Zeit., 50, 1892, p. 349. 
8 Ganong, W. F.: Vegetation of the Bay of Fundy Marshes. Bot. Gaz., vol. xxxv, 1903, p. 357. 
