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Suaeda vera
Also called Shrubby Sea Blite, Shrubby Seablite, Shrubby Seablight
Suaeda vera is a small, variably shaped shrub from coastal and saline habitats around the Mediterranean, Canary Islands and Atlantic Europe. It is a halophyte that tolerates salt and arid conditions, so it is grown mainly in salty, well-drained settings rather than as a typical garden plant.
Suaeda vera, also known as shrubby sea-blite, shrubby seablight or in the US sometimes as alkali seepweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae (formerly classified under the Chenopodiaceae). It is a small shrub, with very variable appearance over its wide range. It is a halophyte, and occurs in arid and semi-arid saltflats, salt marshes and similar habitats.
The range of this species is primarily along the coasts of the Mediterranean region. In Europe the range extends northwards along the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal, France to south-eastern England. It does not extend around the Black Sea.
It is one of a number of plants high in sodium known as 'barilla' which were used to make soda ash for use in the soap and glass industries. Large quantities were exported from North Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. In a trial in Tunisia it has been found possible to grow both Suaeda and the cordgrass Spartina alterniflora using seawater to irrigate them and increase yields, but only when additional nitrogen and phosphorus are added. The high salt content of the plants will be likely to limit their use as stand alone forage crops, it being more likely they will be used as components of a feed mix.
Seablite · Suaeda aralocaspica · Austral Seablite · Pursh seepweed · California seablite · Seablite · Herbaceous seepweed · South-Indian seepweed · Bush Seepweed · Suaeda pulvinata · Suaeda salina · Woolly seablite
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Suaeda vera 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.
