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Salicornia bigelovii
Annual Glasswort
Dwarf Glasswort
Sea Asparagus
Florida native
A frequent plant of salt flats and salt marshes in much of coastal Florida. The range all Atlantic and Gulf coastal states plus New Mexico and California. The range includes both coasts of Mexico and Belize.
An erect plant with green stems, often turning red, with opposite branches and overall up to 60cm (~2 ft.) tall. Leaves are minute, scale-like and are in pairs, joining to form a band around the stem.
The individual flowers are inconspicuous appearing in spikes up to 10cm (4 in.) long. These spikes are tightly segmented, each section containing 3 flowers, one of which is terminal, slightly larger and positioned higher than the other two. There are no petals and the sepals are fused into a pocket that encloses the stamens and pistils. The fruit is an utricle (bladder-like structure) containing tiny, fuzzy seeds.
Salicornia bigelovii is a member of the Amaranthaceae - Amaranth family.
Other species of the Salicornia genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Salicornia ambigua - PERENNIAL GLASSWORT
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Jun 05, 2020
