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Suaeda maritima

Common name:	Sea Blite	Family:	Chenopodiaceae
Author:	(L.)Dum.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	European coasts and saline areas inland, south from Norway to eastern Asia, E. Indies, N. America.
Habitat:	Salt marshes and sea shores, usually below the high water mark of spring tides[17].
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.
	Suoeda maritima[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Annual Sea Blite [H], Annual Sea-blite [L], Herbaceous Sea-blite [L], Herbaceous Seepweed [B,P], Schorrenkruid [D],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	maritima = on the sea-coast
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Goosefoot family

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.3m. . It is in flower from July to October, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

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

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves Seed.

Young leaves - raw or cooked[2, 105, 177]. A pleasant salty flavour, they make a nice addition in small quantities to a salad[K]. They are often mixed with other vegetables in order to reduce their saltiness[183]. The young shoots are pickled in vinegar and eaten on their own or used as a relish[183].
Seed - raw or cooked.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Potash.

The ashes of the plant provide a soda that is used in making glass and soap[9].

Cultivation details

Dislikes shade. See the plants native habitat for other ideas on its cultivation needs.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ.

Suppliers

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

Web References

[L] Scientific and Common Names (some photos) from Lepidoptera and some other life forms
[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.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Suoeda maritima (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names 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.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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?Suaeda+maritima
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