CHENOPODIACEAE

Southern Seablite

 

20-80cm 

Small and pale green, about 3mm wide, in clusters arising from the axils. 

 

Upright or spreading low shrub, with succulent, opposite or alternate leaves, to 3cm long. Lower leaves often larger and red to purple, upper leaves yellowish. Stems are reddish. 

Break O'Day; Burnie; Central Coast; Clarence; Devonport; Dorset; Flinders Island; Georgetown; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Huon Valley; Kingborough; Latrobe; Sorell; Tasman; West Coast 

 

Widespread on the edges of coastal salt marshes, also found in intertidal rock crevices. 

 

 

 

Grown from seed or cuttings, thrives in moist, saline conditions. Add a small amount of saline soil from the collection area to the propagation mix. Cover seed lightly and keep damp, use the bog method. For direct seeding, spread sparingly in a shallow trench, cover and press down. Fast-growing, good for stabilising saltmarsh and tidal creek edges. Also provides habitat for wading birds. The other Suaeda species in Tasmania, S. maritima, is introduced; this is an annual shrub, 1 m high and often tinged pink or red, with leaves only about 1 mm wide. Suitable below powerlines. 

Flattened, shiny and black. Collect when the flowerheads are dry. The seed is released easily when rubbed between the palms of the hands. 

Soaking 

 

 

Soak seed in water for 8-12 hours, changing the water 2-3 times. 

 

Yes 

 

 

Yes 

Cuttings strike easily.