Broom saltwort
Caroxylon genistoides
Family · Amaranthaceae · Harmless
The grey, twiggy shrub of the saline and gypsum soils of southeastern Spain, one of the harshest environments in continental Europe. Where it rules, the soil holds too much salt or gypsum for almost everything else.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Dunes and sand · Walls and rocks
Also known assaltwort
How to tell it
Thin, whitish, much-divided branches with tiny fleshy leaves that fall early, leaving the shrub almost bare. Insignificant flowers and fruits with a membranous wing all round, in autumn.
What it is confused with
Mediterranean saltbush
Atriplex halimus
They share salty ground. Saltbush has broad diamond leaves coated in white powder; saltwort has tiny leaves and almost bare branches.
Open sheet →What it is for
Plants of this group were burned for centuries to obtain barrilla, the soda used in glass and soap making, and Spain lived off that trade into the 19th century.