Beaded Glasswort

Scientific Name:	Sarcocornia quinqueflora (syn. Salicornia quinqueflora)	Beaded Glasswort - plants Photo: ex-Matters & Bozon
Other Common Names:	Samphire
Status:	Native to all Australian states and to New Zealand.
Plant Description:	Fleshly leafless succulent, which can grow up to 50 cm tall and therefore similar to Halosarcia but usually much shorter and often mat forming to a few cm tall only. Stems are sprawling to erect, made of many segments each up to 2 cm long and become when they mature. Flowers are inconspicuous with yellow anthers protruding from tiny slits in the shorter more rounded segments at the end of the stems. Fruiting bodies are cone-like structures about 8 mm long.
Habitat:	Found in a range of soil types from sands through sandy loams, clay loams to clay but prefers the heavier textures. Common in southern inland and coastal Victoria on dry saltpans and salt marshes and around salt lakes.
Comments:	Beaded Glasswort is very similar to Thick Headed Glasswort (S. blackiana). Flowers of Thick Headed Glasswort are generally in 5’s or 3’s on 4-8 mm wide spikes compared to Beaded Glasswort with its groups of 7 on 3-4 mm wide spikes. The seeds of Beaded Glasswort are covered with curved and hooked bristles, whereas those of Thick Headed Glasswort have blunt protrusions. Thick Headed Glasswort is largely confined to near coastal sites and the western parts of the Wimmera.

Beaded Glasswort - fruit Photo: A J Brown	Beaded Glasswort - flower with anthers Photo: A J Brown	Beaded Glasswort - population Photo: A J Brown
Beaded Glasswort - salt affected Photo: A J Brown	Beaded Glasswort - young upright and older prostrate plants Photo: A J Brown