1. Suaeda calceoliformis (Hook.) Moq. (sea blite)

Pl. 358 g, h; Map 1552

Plants annual, the taproot not tuberous-thickened. Stems 10–80 cm long, loosely to strongly ascending or less commonly erect, not succulent, not appearing jointed, few- to much-branched, glabrous, glaucous. Leaves mostly alternate (the lowermost sometimes opposite), well developed, succulent, sessile. Leaf blades 0.5–4.0 cm long, those subtending flowers shorter than the others, linear, circular or elliptic in cross-section, not clasping the stem, narrowed to a sharply pointed tip, narrowed at the base, the margins entire, the surfaces glabrous, usually somewhat glaucous. Inflorescences axillary toward the branch tips, appearing as terminal, interrupted spikes, the flowers solitary or in small clusters, not sunken into the axis. Flowers perfect or pistillate. Bract 1(2), scalelike. Calyx of 5 sepals, these fused toward the base, persistent at fruiting, more or less enclosing the fruit, 1–3 of them somewhat broader and noticeably hooded or with a small, hornlike projection from about the midpoint, the others rounded or angled on the back, the lobes 0.5–1.0 mm long, ovate to ovate-triangular. Stamens 5 (sometimes absent). Ovary superior. Styles absent or nearly so, the stigmas 2(–5), linear. Fruits 0.5–0.6 mm long, 1.0–1.5 mm in diameter, circular or nearly so in cross-section, depressed-elliptic in outline, flattened vertically, indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent, the wall thin and papery to membranous. Seed adhering loosely to the fruit wall, positioned horizontally, 1.0–1.5 mm long, broadly ovate in outline, flattened, the surface smooth to finely and obscurely pebbled, reddish brown to black, more or less shiny, the coiled embryo usually apparent. 2n=90. July–October.

Introduced, known only from historical collections from Jackson County (native of the western U.S. and adjacent Canada east to Minnesota and Texas; introduced sporadically in the midwestern and northeastern U.S. and Canada). Habitat unknown, but presumably open, disturbed areas.

Steyermark (1963) noted that where it is abundant this species is cooked and eaten as a vegetable. McNeill et al. (1977) showed that the name S. depressa (Pursh) S. Watson, which was used by most earlier botanists for our species (Steyermark, 1963), had been misapplied and was instead referable to a different Eurasian species.