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Salsola soda

Common name:	Barilla Plant	Family:	Chenopodiaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	50, 93
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe - Mediterranean to W. Asia.
Habitat:	Maritime sands and salty soils near sea level in the Mediterranean and in Turkey[93, 100].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Opposite-leaf Russian-thistle [B], Oppositeleaf Russian Thistle [P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Goosefoot family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Europe

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.6m. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline and saline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Young leaves and stems - cooked and used as a vegetable[46, 61, 183]. A crunchy tender texture[206].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Potash.

The ashes of the burnt plant are used for making glass and soap[46, 61]. At one time large quantities of the ashes were imported into Britain for this purpose, but nowadays a chemical process using salt is employed[4].

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 this country. Plants are sometimes cultivated for the potash obtained from their stems[46, 61]. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus.
Requires a very sunny position in a light or medium well-drained soil, it tolerates salty soils, occasional inundation by salt water and maritime exposure. Succeeds in poor soils and grows more vigorously on alkaline soils[206].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ. The seed has a short viability and should be stored cool over the winter[206].

Suppliers

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

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[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

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[93] Davis. P. H. Flora of Turkey. Edinburgh University Press 1965
Not for the casual reader, this is an immense work in many volumes. Some details of plant uses and habitats.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[206] Larkcom J. Oriental Vegetables John Murray 1991 ISBN 0-7195-4781-4
Well written and very informative.

Readers Comments

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Bibliography

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?Salsola+soda
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Salsola+soda

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.