a name given to Salicornia herbacea (also known as marsh samphire), a salt-marsh herb with succulent, jointed, leafless stems, in reference to its former use in glassmaking, when it was burnt for barilla. Salsola Kali, an allied plant with rigid, fleshy, spinous-pointed leaves, which was used for the same purpose, was known as prickly glasswort. Both plants are members of the natural order Chenopodiaceae.