Lawrence Fernandez
Bio 25: Ecology of SF Bay
Pickleweed & Saltgrass
Pickleweed and Saltgrass are neighboring species in the bay area’s salt marshes, an
undulating ecotone that once covered about 300 square miles in the bay area. Acting as
nature’s sieves, salt marshes occur at the shallow mouths of freshwater streams and rivers
as they flow in to the bay, collecting sediment and building more marshland. Though salt
marshes are wetland environments, many of the plants in salt marshes share evolutionary
characteristics, or are relatives of, those found in desert regions. In both salt marshes and
desert regions, lack of access to fresh water is the primary stressor. Salt marshes have the
added difficulty of water submergence and low oxygen levels due to water submergence.
Because these stressors depend on the presence and duration of submergence in salt water,
salt marshes are a unique gradient of ecotones, each level defined by a dominant plant
adapted to a particular salinity and oxygen level as determined by the flux of the tides
Pickleweed can be found just above the mean high tide level as the second emergent
plant, occurring after cordgrass and just before salt grass. It can withstand salinity levels as
high as 6%, but cannot withstand the levels of submergence faced by the cordgrass.
Pickleweed (Salicornia virginica) is a short, upright plant with a smooth, fleshy
cylindrical stem with tiny leaves almost invisible- giving it the appearance of succulent
“pickles.” Species of Salicornia are found in marsh systems and deserts around the world,
and are more commonly called glasswort, for their historic use in the production of glass.
Pickleweed, like other plants in the salt marshes, is a salt-adapted halophyte. Each
undulation of the tide deposits more salt water, and salt levels concentrate as water
evaporates. To deal with this less than ideal waters source, pickleweed roots pump out salt
water with sodium-potassium pumps, and sequesters the rest in vacuoles at the end of its
fleshy branches. As the dry season progresses and more and more salts accumulate, the
pickleweed abandons the salt-packed leaves, drawing out chlorophyll and leaving behind
the bright red segments to fall back to the earth.
Pickleweed relies on the wind to carry pollen from a male plant to a female
plant, and relies on the water to carry its seeds. Its flowers are inconspicuous and yellow,
blooming from august to november. It produces an abundance of tiny, hair covered seeds.
The seeds float on the high tide, which carries them out to new locations.
Saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) is another halophyte, found just above the high tide
level in the vegetation band upland from pickleweed, where it is drier. It is a perennial
plant, reproducing through both seeding and cloning itself by underground rhizomes. It
forms dense mats of vegetation, making it a “first to sow” plant in wetland restoration
where soil retention is important. While pickleweed sequesters salt, saltgrass excretes it. Its
slender, blue-gray leaves glitter with excreted salt crystals before the tide washes it away.
Both pickleweed and saltgrass provide important habitat and food source for the
creatures of the salt marshes. Pickleweed, occurring in dense, miniature forests, provide
structure and habitat for nesting shore birds such as the savannah sparrow, as well as
forage and food opportunities for small mammals, ducks, birds, and insects. The wandering
skipper butterfly relies solely on saltgrass as its host plant. While the salty greenery of both
the pickleweed and salt grass require special adaptation- or seasonality- to be palatable to
most species, the abundant seeds are much sought after food source in the salt marsh
ecosystem. If you go foraging in the early spring, the tender green tips can be harvested for
use in salads and pickles. Or, if you’ve got more money than time, you can buy it for around
$5 dollars a pound at various farmers’ and specialty markets in the bay area.
A nicety in the human diet, Pickleweed is a staple for another bay area resident, the
salt marsh harvest mouse. This thumb sized, endangered mouse is a salt marsh specialist,
having evolved the ability to live on salt water and saline vegetation such as the pickleweed.
Further, the structural support of pickleweed is important in providing this tiny, delicious
mammal protection from predatory shore birds and mammals. During the highest of high
tides when even the pickleweed is covered in water, the salt marsh harvest mouse will
swim its way upland to hide out the tide in saltgrass, alkali heath, or other salt plants of the
coastal strand.
Pickleweed and saltgrass are both wonderfully competitive, quick growing early
successional species that do well in any salt marsh environment. The dangers they face are
the dangers that all salt marsh inhabitant’s face- the destruction, filling, and draining of salt
marshes. Further, the introduction of invasive, non-native species can disrupt the
distribution of pickleweed and salt grass. Of particular concern is the non-native Spartina
that has invaded the bay area, outcompeting pickleweed in the mid-tide zone and pushing it
further upland. Spartina and its hybrids with the local species quickly take over
marshlands, eliminating the structural and ecological diversity that makes bay area
marshlands such distinct, abundant places of life and productivity.
Bibliography:
1) Aquarium of the Pacific: Online Learning Center
 Pickleweed
i. http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/full_descri
ption/pickleweed/
 Saltgrass
i. http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/full_descri
ption/saltgrass
2) Sulivan, Rob,“Native Pickleweed offers a taste of the wild,” SFGate.com, Jan 16th
2008
 http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-01-16/home-andgarden/17148934_1_species-plant-succulents
3) Conradson, Diane R. Exploring Our Baylands. San Francisco Wildlife Society, 1996.
4)
“Invasive Spartina in Humbolt County”
 http://www.fws.gov/humboldtbay/spartina.html
5) Schoenherr, Allan. A Natural History of California. University of California Press, 1992