Suaeda maritima - annual sea-blite

	DISSEMINATION

Kingdom	Plantae
Sub Kingdom	Trecheobionta (vascular plant)
Superdivision	Spermatophyta (seed plant)
Division	Magnoliophyta (flowering plant)
Class	Magnoliopsida (dicotyledon)
Order	Caryophyllidae
Family	Chenopodiaceae
Genus	*Suaeda*
Species	*maritima*
Classification	(L.) Dumort.
Common name	annual sea-blite

Geographic Range	cosmopolitan (halophyte).
Physical Characteristics	annual plant with erect or prostrate stem, striped, with branches near the apex generally cernuous. Leaves are fleshy and with semicircular section, they become violet-red during the Autumn. Flowers are gathered in groups of 2-5 or lonely at leaf axis on the upper branches of the plant. The fruit is oval and compressed. It flowers from July to September.
Notes	the salt content in the tissues is very high and the leaves can contain NaCl up to 14,5% of their dry weight. It colonizes areas where perennial species are absent but it doesn't bear competition with this kind of plants.
Habitat	it's found on moist soils with a wide salinity range, above all where the sea piles up organic remains (halophile-nitrophile plant).

Sources
References	Y.Waysel, Biology of Halophytes, Academic Press Inc., 1972 Flora e vegetazione delle barene - di N. Anoè, D. Calzavara, L. Salviato - Società Veneziana di Scienze Naturali
Web References	http://www.istitutoveneto.it/venezia/documenti/altri_elaborati/libro_vegetazione.pdf
Source of the photo	http://www.schutzstation-wattenmeer.de/ wissen/strandsode.html