Batis maritima

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Roots

The salty leaves can be eaten in salads or cooked, and are used as a pickle. The roots are chewed and sucked for their sweet juice, and can be used for a drink or to sweeten coffee.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of tropical America. It prefers saline conditions. It forms large communities in brackish water. It can grow in salty conditions.

Anguilla, Brazil, Central America*, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Haiti, Hawaii, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, North America, Pacific, Peru, Puerto Rico, Pan tropical, South America, Suriname, West Indies*,

How to Identify

A small shrub. It is slightly woody at the base. The stems are trailing. It forms roots at the nodes. The leaves are simple, narrow and opposite. They are fleshy. Male and female flowers are on separate plants. The flowers are small and in cone like groups in the axils of leaves.

How to Grow

A plant of subtropical to tropical coastal areas. Tolerates seaside conditions, alkaline soil, salt, no drainage and seasonal flooding. Plants usually flower and fruit all year round.

Other Uses

The plant ashes are rich in potash and can be used for making soap and glass. The plant scrambles over sandy soils, often rooting as it goes. This makes it suitable for use in soil stabilization projects on dunes and sandy soils near the sea.

Batis maritima, the saltwort or beachwort (also known as turtleweed, pickleweed, barilla, planta de sal, camphire, herbe-à-crâbes, and akulikuli-kai), is a halophyte. It is a C3-plant, long-lived perennial, dioecious, succulent shrub. The plant forms dense colonies in salt marshes, brackish marshes, and mangrove swamps and frequently is found on the margins of saltpans and wind-tidal flats. Batis maritima is a pioneer plant, covers quickly areas where hurricanes have destroyed the natural vegetation. So far, Batis maritima has not been used commercially for food production but the seeds have a high oil content with high nutritional value.

Notes

There are 2 Batis species. There is only one Bataceae genus.