Seasonal Wild Flowers

Prickly Saltwort

Salsola kali subsp. kali

Chenopodiaceae

July to October

It grows patchily all round the coast, but is has declined

in the South and the Southwest.

See the BSBI distribution map for Prickly Saltwort

It grows on the drift line of sand and shingle beaches,

and is usually found with Frosted Orache, Sea Rocket

and Sea Sandwort.

This was the case where these pictures were taken on

the southwestern edge of the Exe estuary by Dawlish

Warren Nature Reserve.

Prickly Saltwort is a native, clump-forming, woody annual

herb, growing up to 50cm.

Flowers are small (up to 3mm), greenish, each with 2 leaf-

like ponted bracts and inserted into the axils of a leaf.

There are 3 to 5 stamens and 2 to 3 stigmas.

Fruits are globular and up to 2.5mm.

Leaves are up to 4cm (longer than the bracts), fat and

succulent and sharply pointed.

Stems are branched and have pinkish-red or pale green

stripes.

In the illustration here, the upper parts of the stems

have pale stripes and the lower parts, pinkish-red stripes.

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Prickly Saltwort, Exe estuary, Devon

Flower spike- each flower has 2 bracts & a leaf

Close-up of flowers, stamens and bracts

Globular fruits, bracts and leaves

Pointed leaves and bracts

Branches with pink lower and pale green upper stripes