Suaeda

Estuary seablite Suaeda esteroa, photographed by Anthony Valois.

Belongs within: Chenopodiaceae.

Suaeda, seablites and seepweeds, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs and shrubs found growing in saline and alkaline soils (Hickman 1993).

Characters (from Hickman 1993): Annuals, perennials, or shrubs, glabrous to hairy. Leaves generally alternate; blade entire, sometimes cylindric or upper surface flat, fleshy, generally glaucous, tip acute or pointed. Inflorescence a cyme; clusters sessile, generally arrayed in compound spikes; bracts leaf-like or reduced, bractlets subtending flowers 1–3, minute, membranous; flowers 1–12. Flowers generally bisexual; calyx radial or bilateral, lobes 5, rounded, hooded, keeled, horned, or wing-margined; ovary more or less lenticular, rounded, conic or with a neck-like extension, stigmas 2–4. Fruit an utricle, enclosed in calyx. Seed horizontal or vertical, lenticular or flat.

<==Suaeda Forsskal ex Scopoli 1777 (nom. cons.) [Suaedeae] W84
    |--S. sect. Heterosperma H93
    |    |--S. calceoliformis [incl. S. depressa var. erecta] H93
    |    `--S. esteroa H93
    `--S. sect. Limbogermen H93
         |--S. californica H93
         |--S. moquinii [incl. S. torreyana var. ramosissima, S. torreyana] H93
         `--S. taxifolia [=S. californica var. taxifolia; incl. S. californica var. pubescens] H93

Suaeda incertae sedis:
  *S. vera W84
  S. aegyptiaca (Hasselq.) Zoh. 1957 (see below for synonymy) W84
  S. arbusculoides Smith 1969 W84
  S. articulata CV06
  S. australis (Br.) Moq. 1831 (see below for synonymy) W84
  S. baccifera Pallas 1803 W84
  S. corniculata CS77
  S. divaricata O06
  S. linifolia Pallas 1803 W84
  S. maritima [=Chenopodium maritimum Linnaeus 1753] A61
  S. monoica HSS13
  S. novae-zelandiae Allan 1961 (see below for synonymy) A61
  S. palaestina GR98
  S. salina CV06
  S. suffrutescens RH96

Suaeda aegyptiaca (Hasselq.) Zoh. 1957 [=Chenopodium aegyptiacum Hasselq. 1757, Enchylaena aegyptiaca (Hasselq.) Sprengel 1824; incl. Suaeda baccata Forsskal ex Gmelin 1791] W84

Suaeda australis (Br.) Moq. 1831 [=Chenopodium australe Br. 1810, Chenopodina australis (Br.) Moq. in DC. 1849, Lerchea maritima var. australis (Br.) Kuntze 1891, Schoberia australis (Br.) Meyer ex Steudel 1841, Suaeda maritima var. australis (Br.) Domin 1921; incl. Chenopodium insulare Black 1945] W84

Suaeda novae-zelandiae Allan 1961 [=Su. australis var. nova-zelandica MacKay & Chapman 1954; incl. Salsola fruticosa Forst. f. 1786 non Linnaeus 1763] A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.

[GR98] Greuter, W., & T. Raus (eds.) 1998. Med-Checklist Notulae, 17. Willdenowia 28: 163–174.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[HSS13] Hirschfeld, E., A. Swash & R. Still. 2013. The World's Rarest Birds. Princeton University Press: Princeton (New Jersey).

[O06] Outes, F. F. 1906. Instrumentos y armas neolíticos de Cochicó (Provincia de Mendoza). Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 277–286.

[RH96] Remaudière, G., & S. E. Halbert. 1996. American species of the genus Brachyunguis Das (Homoptera: Aphididae), including two new species. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (2): 249–255.

[W84] Wilson, P. G. 1984. Chenopodiaceae. In: George, A. S. (ed.) Flora of Australia vol. 4. Phytolaccaceae to Chenopodiaceae pp. 81–317. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.