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Salicornia bigelovii
Also called Dwarf Glasswort, Bigelow's Glasswort, Bigelow's Pickleweed
Dwarf saltwort is a salt-tolerant annual herb of coastal salt marshes, grown for its seed oil and as forage. The key to growing it is saline or salty water and full sun.
Salicornia bigelovii is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common names dwarf saltwort and dwarf glasswort. It is native to coastal areas of the eastern and southern United States, Belize, and coastal Mexico (both the east and west coasts). It is a plant of salt marshes, a halophyte which grows in saltwater. It is an annual herb producing an erect, branching stem which is jointed at many internodes. The fleshy, green to red stem can reach about 60 cm in height. The leaves are usually small plates, pairs of which are fused into a band around the stem. The inflorescence is a dense, sticklike spike of flowers. Each flower is made up of a fused pocket of sepals enclosing the stamens and stigmas, and no petals. The fruit is an utricle containing tiny, fuzzy seeds.
This plant is gaining scientific attention for its potential to serve as an oil crop that can be grown in desert environments and maintained with water containing high levels of salts. It is the source of salicornia oil. The seed of the plant is up to 33% oil. The oil contains up to 79% linoleic acid and is functionally similar to safflower oil. It can be used as a cooking oil and a replacement for more valuable oils in chicken feed. Domestic animals can be fed the plant as a forage. The plant could also be a source of biofuel. Salicornia has numerous health benefits and some of its bioactive metabolites have important pharmaceutical applications.
Glasswort · Beaded Glasswort · Red swampfire · Virginia Glasswort · Glasswort · Salicornia blackiana · Salicornia fruticosa · Salicornia pacifica · Glasswort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salicornia bigelovii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
