Tecticornia

Quality 0.50 · 4 views · Updated 2 months ago

Genus of plants

title: "Tecticornia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["tecticornia", "amaranthaceae", "amaranthaceae-genera", "caryophyllales-of-australia", "halophytes"] description: "Genus of plants" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecticornia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of plants ::

|image = Tecticornia pergranulata subsp. pergranulata.jpg |image_caption = Samphire, Tecticornia pergranulata |taxon = Tecticornia |authority = Hook. f. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = ca. 44 species, see text

Tecticornia is a genus of succulent, salt tolerant plants largely endemic to Australia. Taxa in the genus are commonly referred to as samphires. In 2007, the genus Halosarcia, along with three other Australian genera (Pachycornia, Sclerostegia and Tegicornia) was incorporated into the genus.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Tecticornia_(15435464995).jpg" caption="''Tecticornia'' flowers"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Tecticornia_arbuscula.jpg" caption="''[[Tecticornia arbuscula]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Transactions_and_proceedings_and_report_of_the_Philosophical_Society_of_Adelaide,South_Australia(1918)_(14767748442).jpg" caption="Illustrations of ''[[Tecticornia pergranulata]]'' (up) and ''[[Tecticornia halocnemoides]]'' (down)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Samphire_shrubland.jpg" caption="''[[Tecticornia tenuis]]'' habitat"] ::

The species of Tecticornia grow as annual or perennial herbs, subshrubs or small shrubs. Stems are branched, glabrous and appear jointed. The opposite leaves are fleshy, glabrous, connate in the lower part and cup-like or collar-like stem-clasping, with minute (0–3 mm long) two-lobed to triangular leaf blades.

The spike-shaped inflorescences consist of opposite bracts, mostly connate and stem-clasping, free in some species. Their blades are cup- or collar-like or deltoid to semi-circular scales. In the axil of each bract, there are three to five (rarely one or seven) flowers, free or sometimes fused to each other, to the bract, and to the inflorescence axis. The flowers are hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual. They consist of a 2-3-lobed perianth of connate tepals, one stamen, and an ovary with two stigmas.

In fruit, the perianth remains membranous or becomes crustaceous, spongy, or horny. The fruit wall (pericarp) may be membranous, fleshy, crustaceous, or woody. The seed is disc-shaped or wedge-shaped, its seed coat with smooth or reticulate, tuberculate or longitudinally ribbed surface. The seed contains the curved embryo and copious perisperm (feeding tissue).

Distribution

All species of Tecticornia are distributed in Australia. Only one species, Tecticornia indica (Syn. Halosarcia indica, Arthrocnenum indicum) has a wider range outside this continent along the tropical coasts of the Indian Ocean to eastern and western tropical Africa.

Systematics

The first publication of Tecticornia was made in 1880 by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The type species of this genus is Tecticornia cinerea (F. Muell.) Baill, which is a synonym of Tecticornia australasica. Tecticornia used to be a small genus with just three species, until in 2007, the genera Halosarcia, Pachycornia, Sclerostegia and Tegicornia were included.

Phylogenetical research of the subfamily Salicornioideae revealed that the Tecticornia/Halosarcia/Pachycornia/Sclerostegia/Tegicornia lineage is a sister group of Sarcocornia/Salicornia.

In 2016, Tecticornia comprises about 44 species, eleven species were described recently. (distributions as given by Australian Plant Census (2008).

Uses

Young twigs of Tecticornia indica can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. In Madagascar, they are pickled in vinegar and used as a spice.

References

References

  1. (August 2025). "Species Profile and Threats Database, Halosarcia bulbosa". Australian Government, Department for Environment and Heritage.
  2. (August 2025). "Halosarcia calyptrata". Florabase.
  3. "Threatened Flora of Eyre Peninsula". Australian Government, Department for Environment and Heritage.
  4. Department of the environment, Australia. (June 2018). "EPBC Nomination to de-list from the Vulnerable category, Halosarcia flabelliformis (Bead Glasswort)".
  5. APC - Australian Plant Census (2008). [https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/search?product=apc&tree.id=1133571&name=tecticornia&inc._scientific=&inc.scientific=on&inc._cultivar=&max=100&display=apc&search=true ''Tecticornia''], CHAH.
  6. {{FloraBase
  7. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1880). "Genera Plantarum ad exemplaria imprimis in herbariis Kewensibus", 3(1), p. 65. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/655586#page/72/mode/1up first description of Tecticornia]
  8. (2006). "Phylogeny of Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae): diversification, biogeography, and evolutionary trends in leaf and flower morphology". Taxon.
  9. link. (2016-08-01)
  10. (2007). "Incorporation of the Australian genera ''Halosarcia, Pachycornia, Sclerostegia'' and ''Tegicornia'' into ''Tecticornia'' (Salicornioideae, Chenopodiaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany.
  11. (2007). "''Tecticornia bibenda'' (Chenopodiaceae: Salicornioideae), a new C4 samphire from the Little Sandy Desert, Western Australia". Nuytsia.
  12. (2007). "Three new species of ''Tecticornia'' (formerly ''Halosarcia'') (Chenopodiaceae: Salicornioideae) from the Eremaean Botanical Province, Western Australia". Nuytsia.
  13. (2007). "''Tecticornia indefessa'' (Chenopodiaceae: Salicornioideae), a new mat samphire (formerly Tegicornia) from north of Esperance, Western Australia". Nuytsia.
  14. (2008). "''Tecticornia papillata'' (Chenopodiaceae: Salicornioideae), a new andromonoecious samphire from near the Carnarvon Range, Western Australia". Nuytsia.
  15. (2009). "Three new species of ''Tecticornia'' (Chenopodiaceae, subfamily Salicornioideae) identified through Salinity Action Plan surveys of the central wheatbelt region, Western Australia". Nuytsia.
  16. (2011). "''Tecticornia globulifera'' and ''T. medusa'' (subfamily Salicornioideae: Chenopodiaceae), two new priority samphires from the Fortescue Marsh in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.". Telopea.
  17. {{Tropicos. 40010610. Tecticornia

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

tecticorniaamaranthaceaeamaranthaceae-generacaryophyllales-of-australiahalophytes