Salicornia virginica Linnaeus. Samphire. Phen: Jul-Oct. Hab: Salt pannes in coastal marshes. Dist: NS and QC south to GA.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: It is unclear whether our eastern North American plants are distinct from European plants of the S. europaea complex. Recent European workers recognize multiple species in the S. europaea complex. S. europaea (in the narrow sense) is a diploid species; our plants are apparently all tetraploid and may or may not be conspecific with one of the European tetraploid entities in this complex. Until further studies are completed, it seems best to recognize our plants as distinct. The oldest name available for the American plants is Salicornia virginica Linnaeus, which has unfortunately been generally misapplied to the perennial glasswort, here treated as Salicornia ambigua.

Synonymy: = K1, Va; = Salicornia depressa Standl. in N.L.Britton et al. – FNA4, K3, K4, NE, NY; = Salicornia herbacea L. – S13, misapplied; < Salicornia europaea L. – C, G, GW2, RAB, S, Tat, W, Judd & Ferguson (1999), misapplied; >< Salicornia europaea L. var. europaea – F; > Salicornia europaea L. var. prostrata (Pall.) Fernald – F; > Salicornia europaea L. var. simplex (Pursh) Fernald – F

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL (name change)
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL (name change)
• Northcentral & Northeast: OBL (name change)

Heliophily: 9