Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Salicornia europaea; photograph (c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-07

Salicornia europaea L.

Common glasswort; Glasswort; Chicken-claws; Marsh samphire

Amaranthaceae · Denmark, Finland +10

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Salicornia europaea L.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Moss) Lambinon & Vanderp.

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Salicornia europaea, photograph (c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY)Salicornia europaea, photograph (c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY)Salicornia europaea, photograph (c) Andreas Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY)Salicornia europaea, photograph (c) Andreas Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY)Salicornia europaea, photograph (c) Dalton Watt, some rights reserved (CC BY)Salicornia europaea, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 63 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-5.3°C
Record low -12.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
19°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
851mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
3–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Salicornia europaea, known as marsh samphire, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophytic annual dicot flowering plant. Other common names include pickle weed, saltwort, and chicken toe (due to the shape). It is a succulent plant with high water content, accounting for its slightly translucent look (the source of the name 'glasswort'). It is found near saline water in Europe and is edible both raw and cooked.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Salicornia europaea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (620 mm of 835 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 13.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

835 mm in the median year at the habitat, 620 mm of it June to January. Wettest month October at 90 mm, driest month April at 44 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 598 mm to 1,052 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 851 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 835 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 2, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -5.3 °C, the absolute minimum -12.7 °C, 1,343 frost nights in 44 years, 30.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.4 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -1.8 °C to 4.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 19.4 °C in July and August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +1 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Salicornia europaea through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 19 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 1.4 °C; 835 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost27.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-12.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 3–36RH 61–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 717 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 2–85 / 2–87 / 4–1010 / 7–1314 / 12–1717 / 15–2019 / 17–2219 / 18–2217 / 15–1913 / 10–1510 / 6–116 / 3–9
Night °C2 / -2–51 / -2–43 / 0–55 / 3–79 / 7–1012 / 11–1315 / 13–1615 / 13–1613 / 10–159 / 7–126 / 3–83 / 0–5
Rain mm70 / 48–10156 / 36–7560 / 39–7744 / 33–6655 / 44–6766 / 44–7572 / 45–8676 / 50–9379 / 53–9490 / 60–12286 / 57–11481 / 53–113
DLI4 / 3–69 / 7–1117 / 15–1928 / 25–3035 / 33–3736 / 34–4035 / 33–3929 / 27–3119 / 17–2211 / 9–135 / 4–73 / 2–5
RH %67 / 63–7065 / 62–6764 / 61–6561 / 60–6361 / 59–6362 / 59–6462 / 60–6562 / 61–6463 / 62–6464 / 63–6566 / 63–6767 / 64–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 717 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1537 records in those cells; 87 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 771:3674 (51.425, 3.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -12.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 717 distinct grid cells holding 1537 of the 1673 in-range records (87 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 771:3674 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 51.50_3.750, lapse-corrected +1 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, France, Spain · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker51.518, 3.709 · in the densest population, 674 records (39% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1711 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1537 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1673 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1291 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 182 km away. 103 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 38 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 9823570 (Salicornia europaea L.): Kew's file holds it as Salicornia europaea L. (accepted); 900 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1711 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Salicornia europaea, photograph 1did not loadSalicornia europaea, photograph 2did not loadSalicornia europaea, photograph 3did not loadSalicornia europaea, photograph 4did not loadSalicornia europaea, photograph 5did not loadSalicornia europaea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Andreas Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Dalton Watt, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Artemisia maritima Artemisia maritima Sea wormwood Photo: CC BY, Jess GreenSpergularia media Spergularia media Greater sea-spurrey Photo: CC0, author not statedCrambe maritima Crambe maritima Sea kale Photo: CC BY, Mikko HeikkinenSuaeda maritima Suaeda maritima Annual sea-blite Photo: CC BY, maureen_c-mHippophae rhamnoides Hippophae rhamnoides Sea-buckthorn Photo: CC BY, Нурхайдарова ТатьянаTripolium pannonicum Tripolium pannonicum Sea starwort Photo: CC BY, arthur_haendler

Other Salicornia 10 in the reference

Salicornia ambigua Salicornia ambigua Perennial glasswort Photo: CC0, Daniel AthaSalicornia bigelovii Salicornia bigelovii Dwarf saltwort Photo: CC BY, dorianSalicornia fruticosa Salicornia fruticosa Shrubby Glasswort Photo: CC BY, Ana GarciaSalicornia neei Salicornia neei South American Glasswort Photo: CC BY, Nahuel Di MarcoSalicornia pacifica Salicornia pacifica Pacific glasswort Photo: CC0, author not statedSalicornia perennans Salicornia perennans Marshfire glasswort Photo: CC BY, tetyanakuchmaSalicornia perennis Salicornia perennis Perennial glasswort Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeSalicornia quinqueflora Salicornia quinqueflora Beaded Glasswort Photo: CC BY, William HarlandSalicornia rubra Salicornia rubra Red saltwort Photo: CC BY-SA, AlexSalicornia virginica Salicornia virginica Virginia glasswort Photo: CC BY, Justin Quintanilla

Names & registers

Also known as Salicornia annua; Salicornia appressa; Salicornia biennis; Salicornia brachystachya; Salicornia brachystachya subsp. gracilis and 29 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Amaranthaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain +9
Wild records
1711 in range · 1291 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 12239479 is Salicornia europaea (Moss) Lambinon & Vanderp.; Kew accepts Salicornia europaea L., and the name is cited as Kew accepts it; its synonyms and common names are read from GBIF's Salicornia europaea L. (9823570) too
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-2237 read from GBIF's Salicornia europaea L. (9823570)
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 900 records of GBIF's key 9823570, Salicornia europaea L. (Kew's file holds it as Salicornia europaea L. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 12 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 10 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 51.50_3.750, lapse-corrected +1 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 166520-1 is Kew's for Salicornia europaea L.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22read from the page's key and its other keys: 121 from GBIF's key 9823570
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 77 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…