Sarcocornia quinquenervia Glasswort or Beaded Samphire from coastal and inland saltmarshes of Australia and New Zealand Glasswort, or Beaded Samphire (Sarcocornia quinquenervia), grows along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand and also on dry lakes, in saltpans and in saltmarshes throughout much of southern Australia. Glasswort is often part of a saltmarsh community, growing between mangroves and the shoreline. This low growing, succulent perennial is called a halophyte, a plant which can grow in water with high concentrations of salt (sodium chloride). It is a C4 plant, as are many saltmash species in the plant family Amaranthaceae (Chenopodiaceae). Why ‘Glasswort’? The active ingredient of soda ash is sodium carbonate. Glasswort plants sequester sodium absorbed from salt water into their cells. In Mediaeval times, ‘glassworts’ (saltmarsh species of Salicornia closely related to Sarcocornia) were harvested and burned for ash. In this process, sodium was converted to sodium carbonate and used as a flux for making ‘soda-based’ glass. This was seen as being superior to the previously used ‘potash’ flux made from wood ash1. Samphires, Salads and Salt Lamb In many parts of the world sheep that have grazed on coastal salt marshes produce meat that is prized for its tenderness and flavour. The classic example would be the Romney Sheep that graze Romney Marsh in the UK. In France, the meat is known as agneau de pré-salé. In recent years, salt lamb has also become very popular in Australia and sheep are grazed on saltmarsh in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (Kangaroo Island) and Western Australia. Samphire is now popular in its own right, used in salads and seafood dishes, often replacing asparagus and eaten with fish. However, be aware that in NSW, Coastal Saltmarsh is listed as an ‘Endangered Ecological Community’ under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and it’s therefore illegal to harvest the plants2. 1 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasswort 2 New South Wales Scientific Committee: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/CoastalSaltmarshEndSpListing.htm Map of World distribution modified from Discover Life: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?r=0.2&la=-27&lo=108&kind=Sarcocornia+quinqueflora Alison Downing, Kevin Downing, Brian Atwell, Muhammed Masood & Ray Duell, Department of Biological Sciences, 11th June 2013 .