Salsola kali L.
saltwort
Glabrous or hairy annual herb to c. 50 cm tall; stems decumbent or prostrate, shining, succulent, minutely puberulent or glabrous, pale-ridged; taproot stout. Lvs 0.3-2-(4) cm long, linear-subulate to subterete or narrow-triangular, succulent, shining, glabrous, or puberulent below, especially on the pale midrib; margin often ciliolate; apex spine-tipped. Bracteoles < lvs, triangular-ovate, often ciliolate, spine-tipped. Perianth (1.5)-2-3 mm long; segments unequal, ± ovate, acuminate, becoming firm, accrescent; wing variously ribbed, becoming fan-like and up to 2-(3) mm wide, with spiny middle nerve prolonged beyond membrane. Stigmas slender, exserted. Fr. surrounded by spiny bracteoles, with persistent style base. Seed 1-2.5 mm diam., dark.
N.; S.: coastal, widespread, but rare in Westland and absent S. of Canterbury, inland in C. Otago.
Eurasia, Africa, Australia 1853
Shingle and sand behind beaches, dry gravelly sites.
FL Jan-Feb.
Saltwort is very variable. A small-leaved form grows on dry gravelly sites in C. Otago. Plants in Mangonui County in N. Auckland develop a large woody perianth wing, 2-3 mm wide, and have seeds larger than is usual in N.Z.; such plants somewhat resemble the related S. ruthenica Iljin. However, this sp. has filiform lvs.
