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Salicornia bigelovii

Common name:	Dwarf Glasswort	Family:	Chenopodiaceae
Author:	Torr.	Botanical references:	43, 235
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	The seed contains saponins[252]. Although poisonous, saponins are poorly absorbed by the human body and so most pass through without harm. Saponins are quite bitter and can be found in many common foods such as some beans. They can be removed by carefully leaching the seed or flour in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of food that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish[K].
Range:	Eastern N. America - Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas.
Habitat:	Salt marshes[43, 235], often colonising new areas of mud flats through its prolific seed production[252].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	S. mucronata[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Dwarf Saltwort [P,B],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Goosefoot family

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.3m. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves Oil.

Young leaves and stems - cooked or pickled[105, 172, 177].
The raw seed is inedible due to the presence of saponins, though these remain in the seed-meal when the oil is extracted[252].
The seed contains about 30% of an edible oil and 35% protein[252]. The oil is highly polyunsaturated and similar to safflower oil (Carthamnus tinctorius) in fatty-acid composition[252]. It has a pleasant nut-like flavour and a texture similar to olive oil[252].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Oil.

The seed contains about 30% oil[252].

Cultivation details

We have very little information on this species and do not know if it will be hardy in Britain, though judging by its native range it should succeed outdoors in many parts of the country. The plants native habitat will give some idea of its cultivation needs.
Recent research has shown this plant to have excellent potential as a commercial crop in arid and desert regions near the sea. It needs irrigation, which can sustainably be provided by using sea water.

Propagation

Seed - we have no information for this species but suggest sowing the seed in situ as soon as it is ripe if this is possible, otherwise sow in spring.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Chenopodiaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[172] Schofield. J. J. Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest.
A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[252] - Scientific American August 1998 Scientific American Inc. New York 1998 ISBN 0036-8733
An interesting article on the use of halophytes as commercial food crops in dessert areas near the sea. Unfortunately lacking in detail of species used and also judges the plant's value as livestock feed rather than direct human food.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Salicornia+bigelovii
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