Saltwort (Salsola kali)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | Salsola kali subsp. kali |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Salsola kali |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | in s41 as Salsola kali subsp. kali. This is the sole native subspecies in England (Stroh et al. 2014) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | In England Prickly Saltwort was assessed as LC (Stroh et al., 2014) but Plant Atlas 2020 showed a significant and consistent decline in England over the long and short term. The main reasons for this are unclear but like many species dependent on strandlines and foredunes appear to be declining due to excessive recreational disturbance . This has become apparent on beaches fenced to protect breeding birds (waders, terns) where this fencing has resulted in a spectacular recovery of strandline vegetation. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | See justification under Q1. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Management to protect breeding birds has been shown top benefit a range of strandline species including Salsola kali. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Fencing off of breeding bird colonies on upper beaches/foredunes (e.g. Ringed Plover, Terns) has the additional benefit of allowing recovery of vegetation communities that have been damaged/eradicated by recreational disturbance.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Pressure mitigation
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites: Important sites for breeding birds
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.