[Illustration: Suaeda torreyana]
Common names: INKWEED, SEEPWEED, IODINEBUSH, (_QUELITE-SALADO_)
Arizona and Texas deserts: (_Suaeda suffrutescens_). Greenish.
March-July.
California desert: (_Suaeda torreyana_). Greenish. July-September.
Goosefoot family. Size: Up to 6 feet tall, and branching.
Seepweed, which is usually an indicator of alkaline soil, is browsed to
some extent by cattle when other feed is scarce. The young plants are
used for greens by the Pimas and other desert Indians, sometimes eaten
with cactus fruits. _Pinole_ was made by roasting the seeds. Coahuila
Indians extracted from the plants a black dye which they used in art
work.
Flowers of the Seepweed are small, greenish, and without petals. Since
the pollen is carried by the wind, color to attract insects to the
flowers is not necessary. Because of its tolerance for somewhat salty or
alkaline soils, Seepweed thrives along the margins of dry lakes and on
salt flats where moisture is near the surface. On the desert of southern
California it is often associated with Mesquite and Quailbrush, the
sooty-green to brown plants standing out in sharp contrast.
Because it is so common in moist locations throughout the Southwest, and
sufficiently unusual in appearance to arouse curiosity as to its
identity, Seepweed is included in this publication regardless of the
fact that its flowers are small and inconspicuous.