Styrax

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Amaranthaceae s.l.
Cladus: Chenopodiaceae s.str.
Subfamilia: Suaedoideae
Tribus: Suaedeae
Genus: Suaeda
Subgenus: Suaeda subg. Suaeda
Sectio: Suaeda sect. Suaeda
Species: Suaeda vera
Name

Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel., in Onomat. Bot. Compl. 8: 797. (1776)

Type: [Egypt, near Alexandria]: P. Forsskål #s.n., BM000069941.

Synonyms

Homotypic
Salsola vera (Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel.) Schult., Syst. Veg. 6: 242. (1820)
Chenopodina vera (Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel.) Moq., Prodr. 13(2): 163. (1849)
Schoberia vera (Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel.) Bunge, Mém. Sav. Étr. Acad. St. Pétersbourg 7: 465. (1851)
Suaeda fruticosa subsp. vera (Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel.) Maire & Weiller, in Fl. Afr. Nord 8: 114. (1962)
Heterotypic (ref. Uotila 2011, Hassler 2019)
Suaeda longifolia K.Koch, Linnaea 22: 188. (1849).
Type locality: [S-Europaean Russia] Taman Peninsula: "Auf der Halbinsel Taman auf Mergel."
Suaeda fruticosa var. longifolia (K.Koch) Fenzl, Fl. Ross. 3: 778. (1851)
Suaeda vera subsp. longifolia (K.Koch) O.Bolòs & Vigo, Butl. Inst. Catalana Hist. Nat., Secc. Bot. 38(1): 89. (1974)
(ref. Uotila 2011)
Suaeda vera var. braun-blanquetii Pedrol & Castrov., Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 45: 95. (1988)
Type: Spain, Logroño: Murillo de Río Leza, el Trasumo. 1983-06-03, Uribe & Alejandre #1331-83. Holotype: MA309110, Iso?type: MA408794.
Suaeda vera subsp. braun-blanquetii (Pedrol & Castrov.) O.Bolòs & Vigo, Fl. Països Catalans 2: 796. (1990)
Suaeda braun-blanquetii (Pedrol & Castrov.) Rivas Mart., Cantó & Sánchez Mata, Itinera Geobot. 15(2): 708. (2002) - [accepted species by Hassler 2019]
Suaeda laxifolia Lowe, Trans. Cambridge Philos. Soc. reimpr. 6: 11. (1838)
Type: Madeira: "Hab in rupibus locisque saxosis maritimis Mad. et Portus Sti."
(ref Hassler 2019)
Salsola farinosa Poir., In: Encyc. 7: 298. (1806), nom. superfl.
Salsola suaeda Poir., In: Encyc. 7: 299. (1806), nom. illeg. (later homonym of Salsola suaeda Forsyth f. 1794)

Misapplied names
"Suaeda fruticosa" sensu auct. mult.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Europe
Northern Europe
Great Britain (England)
Southwestern Europe
Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain
Southeastern Europe
Albania, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia (Sicilia, Malta), Yugoslavia (Croatia, Montenegro)
Africa
Northern Africa
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
Macaronesia
Canary Isl., Cape Verde, Madeira, Selvagens
Asia-Temperate
Western Asia
Cyprus, East Aegean Isl., Palestine, Sinai

Introduced into: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Bolòs, O. & Vigo, J. 1974. Notes sobre taxonomia i nomenclatura de plantes, I. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural. Secció de botanica 38(1): 61–89. PDF Reference page. : 89
Bolòs, O. & Vigo, J. 1990. Flora dels Països Catalans. Volum II (Cruciferes – Amarantàcies). 921 pp., Barcelona: Editorial Barcino. ISBN 84-7226-620-6 PDF Reference page. : 796
Bunge, A.v. 1852 ('1851'). Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Flor Russlands und der Steppen Central-Asiens (aus den Mémoires des savants étrangers Tome VII besonders abgedruckt). St. Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. [1–370 of the preprint, double pagination]. BHL - [Separate preprint from: Bunge, A.v. 1854. Alexandri Lehmann reliquiae botanicae; sive, Enumeratio plantarum in itinere per deserta Asiae Mediae ab A. Lehmann annis 1839-1842 collectarum. (Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Flora Russlands und der Steppen Central-Asiens. Erste Abtheilung). Mémoires présentées á l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg par Divers Savans et lus dans ses assemblées 7: 181–536. BHL Reference page: : 289 / 465.
Fenzl, E. 1851. Salsolaceae. pp. 689–853. In: Ledebour, C.F.: Flora Rossica Vol. 3, Pars 2. BHL Reference page. : 778
Gmelin, J.F. 1776. Onomatologia botanica completa, oder Vollständiges botanisches Wörterbuch. 8. Band. Frankfurt, Leipzig. BHL Reference page. : 797.
Koch, K. 1849. Beiträge zu einer Flora des Orientes. Linnaea 22(2–3): 177–338. BHL Reference page: : 188
Lamarck, J.-B. & Poiret, J.L.M. 1806. Encyclopédie Méthodique. Botanique. Tome 7. 731 pp. H. Agasse, Paris. BHL Reference page. : 298, 299
Lowe, R.T. 1838. Novitiae florae Maderensis: or Notes and Gleanings of Maderan Botany. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 6: reimpr. 12. 523–551. BHL Reference page. : 533
Maire, R.C.J.E.† 1962. Flore de l'Afrique du Nord 8. Dicotyledoneae, Archichlamydeae: Centrospermales: Chenopodiaceae, Amaranthaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Thelygonaceae, Aizoaceae, Portulacaceae, Basellaceae. 303 pp. Paul Lechevalier, Paris. PDF Reference page. : 114.
Moquin-Tandon, A. 1849. Salsolaceae. In: De Candolle, A.P. (ed.): Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis 13(2): 41–219. Masson, Paris. BHL Reference page. : 163.
Pedrol, J. & Castroviejo, S. 1988. A propósito del tratamiento taxonómico y nomenclatural del género Suaeda en "Flora Iberica". Anales del Jardin Botánico de Madrid 45(1): 93–102. PDF Reference page. : 95
Schultes, J.A. 1820. Caroli a Linné equitis Systema Vegetabilium secundum classes ordines genera species. Cum characteribus, differentiis et synonymiis. Editio nova, speciebus inde ab editione XV. detectis aucta et locupletata. Vol. 6. LXX+852 pp., corr. Sumtibus J. G. Cottae, Stuttgardtiae [Stuttgart]. BHL Reference page. : 242.

Additional references

Uotila, P. 2011. Suaeda vera in: Chenopodiaceae (pro parte majore). – In: Euro+Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. Suaeda vera. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 May 28. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Suaeda vera. Published online. Accessed: May 28 2019.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Suaeda vera in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 May 28. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2019. Suaeda vera. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 May 28.

Vernacular names
English: shrubby sea-blite, alkali seablite, alkali seepweed
español: Sosa blanca
magyar: Cserjés sóballa
italiano: Suaeda fruticosa
sardu: Sossoini

Suaeda vera, also known as shrubby sea-blite,[1][2] shrubby seablight[3] or in the USA sometimes as alkali seepweed,[4] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae (formerly classified under the Chenopodiaceae). It is a small shrub, with very variable appearance over its wide range. It is a halophyte, and occurs in arid and semi-arid saltflats, salt marshes and similar habitats.

Taxonomy

This species was first described according to the modern Linnaean system of taxonomy by Linnaeus himself in 1753, who called the species Chenopodium fruticosum. A student of his, Peter Forsskål, joined an expedition undertaking a scientific exploration of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and further in 1760. Only one explorer survived the journey, but Forsskål's journal and notes made it safely back to Copenhagen, and in 1775 his new data was summarised by the last remaining member of the expedition. Forsskål named a number of Suaeda species from the region, including S. vera, S. vermiculata and S. fruticosa,[5] but the 1775 work was not validly published and therefore the names nomima invalida. In 1776 Forsskål's new genus Suaeda was validated by Johann Friedrich Gmelin,[6] and in 1791 Gmelin validated the species.[7] However, what Forsskål called S. vera was the same as Linnaeus's Chenopodium fruticosum, whereas what Forsskål called S. fruticosa was a species that does not occur in Europe, the Near East or North Africa. Nonetheless, the identities were switched, such that S. fruticosa, with the incorrect authority attribution (L.) Forssk. was and still is commonly used across the region,[8][9] although the switched identity was discovered in the mid-20th century.[10]

William Forsyth Jr. translated Gmelin's 1791 thirteenth edition of the Systema Naturae into English as A Botanical nomenclator in 1794, but decided to move this species to Salsola vera in his translation, and gives Gmelin's 1776 work as the publication of the basionym, further confusing the issue.[11]

Styrax (common names storax or snowbell[1]) is a genus of about 130 species of large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, mostly native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the majority in eastern and southeastern Asia, but also crossing the equator in South America.[2] The resin obtained from the tree is called benzoin or storax (not to be confused with the Liquidambar storax balsam).

The genus Pamphilia, sometimes regarded as distinct, is now included within Styrax based on analysis of morphological and DNA sequence data.[3] The spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a different plant, in the family Lauraceae.

Styrax trees grow to 2–14 m tall, and have alternate, deciduous or evergreen simple ovate leaves 1–18 cm long and 2–10 cm broad. The flowers are pendulous, with a white 5–10-lobed corolla, produced 3–30 together on open or dense panicles 5–25 cm long. The fruit is an oblong dry drupe, smooth and lacking ribs or narrow wings, unlike the fruit of the related snowdrop trees (Halesia) and epaulette trees (Pterostyrax).

Uses
Uses of resin

Benzoin resin, a dried exudation from pierced bark, is currently produced from various Styrax species native to Sumatra, Java, and Thailand. Commonly traded are the resins of S. tonkinensis (Siam benzoin), S. benzoin (Sumatra benzoin), and S. benzoides. The name benzoin is probably derived from Arabic lubān jāwī (لبان جاوي, "Javan frankincense); compare the obsolete terms gum benjamin and benjoin. This incidentally shows that the Arabs were aware of the origin of these resins, and that by the late Middle Ages at latest international trade in them was probably of major importance.

The chemical benzoin (2-Hydroxy-2-phenylacetophenone), despite the apparent similarity of the name, is not contained in benzoin resin in measurable quantities. However, benzoin resin does contain small amounts of the hydrocarbon styrene, named however for Levant storax (from Liquidambar orientalis), from which it was first isolated, and not for the genus Styrax itself; industrially produced styrene is now used to produce polystyrene plastics, including Styrofoam.

History of sources
Styrax officinalis resin was mainly used in antiquity

Since Antiquity, storax resin has been used in perfumes, certain types of incense, and medicines.

There is some degree of uncertainty as to exactly what resin old sources refer to. Turkish sweetgum (Liquidambar orientalis) is a quite unrelated tree in the family Altingiaceae that produces a similar resin traded in modern times as storax or as Levant storax, like the resins of other sweetgums, and a number of confusing variations thereupon. Turkish sweetgum is a relict species that occurs only in a small area in SW Turkey (and not in the Levant at all); presumably, quite some of the "storax resin" of the Ancient Greek and the Ancient Roman sources was from this sweetgum, rather than a Styrax, although at least during the former era genuine Styrax resin, probably from S. officinalis, was imported in quantity from the Near East by Phoenician merchants, and Herodotus of Halicarnassus in the 5th century BC indicates that different kinds of storax were traded.[4]

The nataf (נטף) of the incense sacred to Yahweh, mentioned in the Book of Exodus, is loosely translated by the Greek term staktē (στακτή, AMP: Exodus 30:34), or an unspecific "gum resin" or similar term (NIV: Exodus 30:34). Nataf may have meant the resin of Styrax officinalis or of some other plant, perhaps Turkish sweetgum, which is unlikely to have been imported in quantity into the Near East.

Since the Middle Ages, Southeast Asian benzoin resins became increasingly available; today there is little international trade in S. officinalis resin and little production of Turkish sweetgum resin due to that species' decline in numbers.
Use as incense

Storax incense is used in the Middle East and adjacent regions as an air freshener. This was adopted in the European Papier d'Arménie. Though highly toxic benzene and formaldehyde are produced when burning Styrax incense (as with almost all organic substances), the amounts produced by burning a strip of Papier d'Arménie every 2–3 days are less than those achieved by many synthetic air fresheners.[5] Storax resin from southern Arabian species was burned during frankincense (Boswellia resin) harvesting; it was said to drive away snakes:

"[The Arabians] gather frankincense by burning that storax which Phoenicians carry to Hellas; they burn this and so get the frankincense; for the spice-bearing trees are guarded by small winged snakes of varied color, many around each tree; these are the snakes that attack Egypt.[6] Nothing except the smoke of storax will drive them away from the trees."[7]

Gum benjamin (Styrax benzoin) parts drawing.
Franz Eugen Köhler: Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen, etc. (1887)
Medical uses

There has been little dedicated research into the medical properties of storax resin, but it has been used for long, and apparently with favorable results. It was important in Islamic medicine; Avicenna (Ibn Seena, ابن سینا) discusses S. officinalis it in his Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (القانون في الطب, The Law of Medicine). He indicates that storax resin mixed with other antibiotic substances and hardening material gives a good dental restorative material. Benzoin resin is a component of the "Theriaca Andromachi Senioris", a Venice treacle recipe in the 1686 d'Amsterdammer Apotheek.

Tincture of benzoin is benzoin resin dissolved in alcohol. This and its numerous derived versions like lait virginal and friar's balsam were highly esteemed in 19th-century European cosmetics and other household purposes; they apparently had antibacterial properties. Today tincture of benzoin is most often used in first aid for small injuries, as it acts as a disinfectant and local anesthetic and seems to promote healing. Benzoin resin and its derivatives are also used as additives in cigarettes.

The antibiotic activity of benzoin resin seems mostly due to its abundant benzoic acid and benzoic acid esters, which were named after the resin; other less well known secondary compounds such as lignans like pinoresinol are likely significant too.[8]
Horticultural uses
Early summer blossoms of Styrax japonicus

Several species of storax are popular ornamental trees in parks and gardens, especially S. japonicus and its cultivars such as 'Emerald Pagoda', and Styrax obassia.
Uses of wood

The wood of larger species is suitable for fine handicrafts. That of egonoki (エゴノキ, S. japonicus) is used to build kokyū (胡弓), the Japanese bowed instrument.
Ecology and conservation

The resin of Styrax acts to kill wound pathogens and deter herbivores. Consequently, for example, few Lepidoptera caterpillars eat storax compared to other plants. Those of the two-barred flasher (Astraptes fulgerator) were recorded on S. argenteus, but they do not seem to use it on a regular basis.[9]

Some storax species have declined in numbers due to unsustainable logging and habitat degradation. While most of these are classified as vulnerable (VU) by the IUCN, only four trees of the nearly extinct palo de jazmin (S. portoricensis) are known to survive at a single location. Although legally protected, this species could be wiped out by a single hurricane.
Selected species
Styrax camporum parts drawing.
Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl: Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones hactenus ineditae Vol. 1. (1827)
Styrax obassia

Styrax agrestis – China
Styrax americanus – SE USA
Styrax argenteus – N & S America
Styrax argentifolius – China
Styrax bashanensis – China
Styrax benzoides – Thailand, S China
Styrax benzoin – Sumatra
Styrax calvescens – China
Styrax camporum – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
Styrax chinensis – China
Styrax chrysocalyx – Brazil
Styrax chrysocarpus – China
Styrax confusus – China
Styrax cordatus – Peru and Ecuador
Styrax crotonoides – Malaysia
Styrax dasyanthus – central China
Styrax faberi – China
Styrax ferrugineus – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
Styrax formosanus – China
Styrax foveolaria – Peru and Ecuador
Styrax fraserensis – Malaysia
Styrax grandiflorus – China
Styrax grandifolius – SE USA
Styrax hainanensis – S China
Styrax hemsleyanus – China
Styrax hookeri – Himalaya
Styrax huanus – China
Styrax jaliscana – Mexico
Styrax japonicus – Japan
Styrax limpritchii – SW China (Yunnan)
Styrax litseoides – Vietnam
Styrax macranthus – China
Styrax macrocarpus – China
Styrax martii – Brazil
Styrax obassia – Japan, China
Styrax odoratissimus – China
Styrax officinalis – SE Europe, SW Asia
Styrax pentlandianus – Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia
Styrax perkinsiae – China
Styrax peruvianus – Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Styrax philadelphoides – China
Styrax platanifolius – Texas, NE Mexico
Styrax pohlii – Suriname, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia
Styrax portoricensis – Puerto Rico
Styrax redivivus – California
Styrax roseus – China
Styrax rugosus – China
Styrax schweliense – W China
Styrax serrulatus – Himalaya, SW China
Styrax shiraianum – Japan
Styrax suberifolius – China
Styrax supaii – China
Styrax tomentosus – Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
Styrax tonkinensis – SE Asia
Styrax veitchiorum – China
Styrax vilcabambae – Peru
Styrax wilsonii – W China
Styrax wuyuanensis – China
Styrax zhejiangensis – China

Footnotes

"Styrax". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
Fritsch et al. (2001)
Wallnöfer (1997), Fritsch et al. (2001)
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) III.107.2
Marshall, Michael (June 2014). "In the Garden: Snowbell, Not to be Confused with Silverbell". Crozet Gazette.
Although Herodotus saw bones of many of "these [...] snakes", their having wings is hearsay information and either incorrect or refers to some kind of agama with neck or body ornaments. See Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) II.75.1-4.
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) III.107.2:

ton men ge libanôton sullegousi tên sturaka thumiôntes, tên es Hellênas Phoinikes exagousi: tautên thumiôntes lambanousi: ta gar dendrea tauta ta libanôtophora ophies hupopteroi, mikroi ta megathea, poikiloi ta eidea, phulassousi plêtheï polloi peri dendron hekaston, houtoi hoi per ep' Aigupton epistrateuontai, oudeni de allôi apelaunontai apo tôn dendreôn ê tês sturakos tôi kapnôi.

Pastrorova et al. (1997)

Hébert et al. (2004), Brower et al. (2006)

References

Brower, Andrew V.Z. (2006): Problems with DNA barcodes for species delimitation: 'ten species' of Astraptes fulgerator reassessed (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 4(2): 127–132. doi:10.1017/S147720000500191X
Fritsch, P.W.; Morton, C.M.; Chen, T. & Meldrum, C. (2001). Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Styracaceae. Int. J Plant Sci. 162(6, Supplement): S95–S116. doi:10.1086/323418
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC): The Histories. Annotated HTML fulltext of 1921 A. D. Godley translation.
Pastrorova, I.; de Koster, C.G. & Boom, J.J. (1997): Analytical Study of Free and Ester Bound Benzoic and Cinnamic Acids of Gum Benzoin Resins by GC-MS and HPLC-frit FAB-MS. Phytochem. Anal. 8(2): 63-73. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1565(199703)8:2<63::AID-PCA337>3.0.CO;2-Y
Hébert, Paul D.N.; Penton, Erin H.; Burns, John M.; Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie (2004): Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the semitropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator. PNAS 101(41): 14812-14817. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406166101 PDF fulltext Supporting Appendices
Wallnöfer, B. (1997). A revision of Styrax L. section Pamphilia (Mart. ex A. DC.) B. Walln. (Styracaceae). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 99B: 681–720.

Another name and taxon tangled up in this confusion is S. vermiculata. According to Petteri Uotila, writing for the EUR+MED flora project in 2011, this is a species which is only found in Europe in Spain and Sicily, and is otherwise distributed in Africa, four of the Canary Islands, and the Middle East.[9] The African Plants Database agrees with Uotila that S. fruticosa does not occur in Africa, but states that the name was misapplied to populations of S. vermiculata in Africa, not to S. vera, while listing the same works.[12] The Database does agree that S. vera occurs in the Maghreb, and also gives S. fruticosa as a synonym, but S. fruticosa under a different authority attribution![13]

G. Tutin's Flora Europaea (last edition in 1993) uses the name S. fruticosa for this taxon.[9]
Britain

The British botanist Clive A. Stace uses the name S. fruticosa for this species in his New Flora of the British Isles.[14]: 495  This usage was also found in the 1958 List of British Vascular Plants by James Edgar Dandy, but in 1969 Dandy corrected the nomenclature to S. vera.[10] Other British authorities use the name S. vera.[1][2]
Iraq and Israel

The 2016 Flora of Iraq accepts S. fruticosa and S. vermiculata in the flora of Iraq, but not S. vera.[15][16][17] One of the only botanical authorities to recognise all three taxa within the country are Avinoam Danin and Ori Fragman-Sapir in Israel. According to them, all three taxa are valid species and each has a different habitat, with S. vera occurring along the Mediterranean coast and in the highlands of the central Negev Desert,[18] S. fruticosa occurring around the shores of the Dead Sea,[19] and with S. vermiculata in the valley of Arabah.[20] A further complication is that according to the Suaeda specialist Helmut Freitag in the 2001 Flora of Pakistan, the S. vermiculata in the 1966 Flora Palestina by Daniel Zohary is misidentified, and is actually S. fruticosa.[21]
Spain and Portugal

The name Suaeda vera was itself misapplied to a collection of S. vermiculata, which was reported in error in Portugal.[22] In the 1990 volume of the Flora Ibérica, only S. vera was stated to occur in Spain, not S. vermiculata or S. fruticosa.[5] The EUR+MED flora project has both S. vera and S. vermiculata occurring in Spain, but not S. fruticosa.[9][22]
Description

It has a chromosome number of 2n=36.[14][23]
Distribution

The range of this species is primarily along the coasts of the Mediterranean region. In Europe the range extends northwards along the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal, France to south-eastern England. It does not extend around the Black Sea.[9]

Because of the taxonomic confusion, the distribution in Africa is somewhat more complicated. It occurs in the Canary Islands, the Maghreb countries of northern Africa,[9] and likely into the Sahel countries of Sudan and Mauritania,[13] but it is unclear if the populations further in southern Africa, formerly classified as Suaeda fruticosa, belong to S. vera or S. vermiculata.[12][13] For example, the 1988 Atlas Florae Europaeae, which is based on an older edition of the Flora Europaea, includes Cape Verde for S. fruticosa, which this population isn't, but it is not clear to which taxon it actually belongs.[24]: 72 

In Asia it appears that this species is limited to around the Mediterranean region in the Levant and along the coasts of southern Anatolia.[9][18] It does not extend eastwards into Iraq or Pakistan, here the real S. fruticosa occurs.[21] A similar situation seems to exist on the Arabian Peninsula.
Ecology

Seeds germinate more readily in fresh than in salt water.[23]: 309  In Britain it is a coastal species found particularly where shingle and salt marsh meet.[2]
Uses

It is one of a number of plants high in sodium known as 'barilla' which were used to make soda ash for use in the soap and glass industries. Large quantities were exported from North Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.[25] In a trial in Tunisia it has been found possible to grow both Suaeda and the cordgrass Spartina alterniflora using seawater to irrigate them and increase yields, but only when additional nitrogen and phosphorus are added. The high salt content of the plants will be likely to limit their use as stand alone forage crops, it being more likely they will be used as components of a feed mix.[26]
References

BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
"Suaeda vera (Shrubby Sea-blite)". Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Biological Records Centre. Retrieved 29 June 2012
Suaeda fruticosa – Forssk.
"Suaeda vera". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
Pedrol, J.; Castroviejo, S. (1990). Flora Ibérica (PDF) (in Spanish). II. Madrid: Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid. pp. 538, 539.
"Suaeda vera Forssk". International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
"Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel. (1791)". International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
Schenk, H. Jochen; Ferren, Wayne R., Jr. (1 August 2001). "On the sectional nomenclature of Suaeda (Chenopodiaceae)". Taxon. 50 (3): 857–873. doi:10.2307/1223715. ISSN 0040-0262.
Uotila, Petteri (2011). "Details for: Suaeda vera". EUR+MED flora project. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
Dandy, James Edgar (1969). "Nomenclatural changes in the list of British vascular plants" (PDF). Watsonia. 7 (3): 161. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
"Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel. (1776)". International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
Suaeda vermiculata. African Plant Database. Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Suaeda vera. African Plant Database. Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Stace, C. A. (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521707725.
"Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
"Suaeda vermiculata Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
"Suaeda fruticosa Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Danin, Avinoam; Fragman-Sapir, Ori (2019). "Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel". Flora of Israel Online. Avinoam Danin. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
Danin, Avinoam; Fragman-Sapir, Ori (2019). "Suaeda fruticosa Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel". Flora of Israel Online. Avinoam Danin. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
Danin, Avinoam; Fragman-Sapir, Ori (2019). "Suaeda vermiculata J.F.Gmel". Flora of Israel Online. Avinoam Danin. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Freitag, Helmut (2001). "Chenopodiaceae: Suaeda". Flora of Pakistan. 204. Karachi: University of Karachi.
Uotila, Petteri (2011). "Details for: Suaeda vermiculata". EUR+MED flora project. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Chapman, V.J. (1947). "Biological Flora of the British Isles No. 21: Suaeda fruticosa Forsk. (vera J.F. Gmelin)". Journal of Ecology. 35: 303–310. doi:10.2307/2256519.
Jalas, Jaako; Suominen, Juha (1988). Atlas Florae Europaeae. 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521342716.
Wickens, G.E.; Field, David. V.; Goodin, Joe R. (2012). Plants for Arid Lands: Proceedings of the Kew International Conference on Economic Plants for Arid Lands held in the Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, 23–27 July 1984. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 181. ISBN 978-94-011-6830-4.
Ahmad, R.; Malik, K.A. (2013). Prospects for Saline Agriculture. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 404–408. ISBN 978-94-017-0067-2.