How does pickleweed adapt

An atmospheric physicist is experimenting with seawater-based Salicornia farms in Mexico. Crops may be used for food and for biofuel, and may eventually help combat climate change. Pickleweed S.

Pickleweed is one of the hosts of the saltmarsh dodder Cuscuta pacifica , which parasitizes pickleweed during the summer. The dodder is an annual plant and pickleweed is perennial. Thus, unless the dodder is extremely abundant, chances are good that any one pickleweed will be parasitized for a single year only, giving it time to recover during the following year.

What are you looking for? Search for: Submit. Pickleweed Salicornia pacifica. Pole road March Other Common Names: glasswort, woody glasswort, saltwort, Pacific swampfire. California Taxon Report. Description 2 , 4 , Pole road July Pole Road November Rios trailhead March Distribution 7 , 8. Alternate Scientific Names: Sarcocornia pacifica, Salicornia virginica. Photo credit: Barbara Wallach September Pole road April Santa Helena trailhead October Human Uses.

Rios trailhead November Habitat: Salt marshes and beaches. Seasonal appearance: All year; blooms late August through November. Glasswort is a smooth, fleshy, salt-tolerant plant common to the salt marshes of Rhode Island. The plant grows 4 to 20 inches tall, with succulent fleshy , jointed, branching stems.

Its jointed stems range in color from bright green to deep red. The leaves are scale-like formations along the segments of the stem. The resulting seeds are dispersed by the tides and precipitation. They have developed tiny little hairs on the seeds to allow the seeds to latch onto objects in addition to trapping air bubbles.

The seeds can then float or attach themselves to floating debris if deposited in water and eventually end up on shore where they can germinate.

The seeds have a much higher survival rate and likelihood to mature with this adaptation. Moreover, the leaves of pickleweed have developed to become the stem of the plant. The plant itself is extremely low growing as it can be submerged in water for part of the year.

Pickleweed growing in marshes would have lost many of its leaves to wind, water, and herbivory. The energy conversion of the plant is much easier and more efficient as its entire surface area has the ability to perform photosynthesis.

Since pickleweed requires vast quantities of sun to perform photosynthesis, the plant has adapted to best suit its saline environment.