Glasswort

I noticed several patches of pink covering the ground in a field when we were on our way south to Great Falls, Montana, US, not far south of the Canada/US border, My friends kindly pulled over and I was able to walk a bit closer to get a few photos. I think this is a low-growing plant I have only ever seen once before (in September 2008) - Glasswort.

"The common name glasswort came into use in the 16th century to describe plants growing in England whose ashes could be used for making soda-based (as opposed to potash-based) glass.[1][2] The glassworts are succulent, annual "halophytes", or plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. While the original English glasswort plants belong to the genus Salicornia, the term has been extended over the years to halophyte plants from several genera, some of which are native to continents unknown to the medieval English, and growing in ecosystems, such as mangrove swamps, never envisioned when the term glasswort was coined.

The ashes of glasswort plants, and also of their Mediterranean counterpart saltwort plants, yield soda ash, which is an important ingredient for glassmaking and soapmaking. Soda ash is an alkali whose active ingredient is now known to be sodium carbonate. Glasswort and saltwort plants sequester the sodium they absorb from salt water into their tissues (see Salsola soda). Ashing of the plants converts some of this sodium into sodium carbonate (or "soda," in one of the old uses of the term). The sodium carbonate can be purified by washing ("lixiviating") the ashes and boiling the solution dry." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasswort

"Glasswort is a smooth, fleshy, salt-tolerant plant common to the salt marshes of Rhode Island. The plant grows 4 to 20 inches tall, with succulent (fleshy), jointed, branching stems. Its jointed stems range in color from bright green to deep red. The leaves are scale-like formations along the segments of the stem. Glasswort is related to cacti, coming from the same order Caryophyllales, and has fleshy plump stems, resembling asparagus spears. These stems allow the plant to increase its water-holding capacity to survive in harsh, salty, and dry conditions. The flowers of the glasswort are small and green. In the fall, this plant turns bright crimson, adding dramatic beauty to the salt marshes it inhabits."

www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/glass.htm