Suaeda palaestina Eig & Zohari.
Eng.: Sea-blite. Spa.: Sosa, almajo dulce. Fre.: Soude pruineuse. Ara.: Suit, soweit, suwaid, suida, sueda, cerira, djill, idjell, iskrif, lisrirh, chefchaf, ucera, chervia.
Subshrub 20-50(60) cm in height, with a characteristic appearance due to its divaricate and glabrous branches. This differentiates it from other similar species. Leaves linear-oblong to linear, subcylindrical, slightly flat on the upper side, succulent, abruptly ending in a sharp point, attenuate at the base, sessile or shortly petiolate. Leaves smaller, 1.2 × 0.25 cm, sessile, glaucous, fleshy, with scarious margins, semicylindrical to slightly flattened on the upper side and curved or semicircular. Flowers hermaphrodite and solitary in the top part of the branches. Each flowers with 2 bracteoles lanceolate, scarious, much shorter than the perianth. Perianth parts 2 mm, ovate-oblong and with a narrow white margin. Stamens shorter than the perianth. Stigmas 3, subulate, 0.6 mm.
Flowering:
March to October.
Fruiting:
April to November.
Habitat:
Dry, desert and low lying terrain, in low altitude, often in coastal and subcoastal regions.
Distribution:
From the Sinai Peninsula reaching towards the N to Palestine and Israel and towards the W along the Mediterranean coast to Libya. It has also been cited in Sicily.
Conservation status:
It is a common species and in principle it is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.