Sarcocornia pacifica (Pickleweed)

Plants: These woody shrubs may be upright or close to the ground, and are 4–20″ (10–50 cm) high. Branching is highly variable. Younger branches are composed of pickle-like green segments ⅛–¾ ⨉ 1/16–⅛″ (5–20 ⨉ 2–4 mm). This, and the location in coastal salt marshes and tidal flats, are the key identifying features. The segments in the branches allow the plant to survive in salty environs: excess salt is transferred to the segments in the branch tips, which then redden and fall off.

Leaves: It doesn’t look like there are any leaves, but they are present as tiny, opposite scales.

Flowers: Flowers appear between June and November. These, too, are tiny, in groups of three, at stem tips in ⅜–1½″ (1–4 cm) spikes tinged with brown, purple, or pink.

Fruits: Small flattened seeds are enclosed in a papery pericarp and fleshy perianth parts.

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Amaranthaceae	Amaranth family
Genus	Sarcocornia	From Greek sarco, ”fleshy,“ and Latin cornis, ”horned,“ in reference to the appearance of the plants
Species	pacifica	From the Latin pacificus, meaning “peace-making, peacable,” and from a botanic standpoint probably meaning “of the Pacific Ocean or the general Pacific area”

About plant names...