Salicornia: Answers to key questions leading to this genus.

	stems fleshy, jointed
	leaves and branches opposite
	leaves reduced to scales
	flowers axillary and sunk into the fleshy stem

Chenopodiaceae: Answers to key questions leading to this family.  Some of these answers apply only to genus
Salicornia.

	herbs
	plants terrestrial, but sometimes growing in marshy places
	plants not parasitic on trees; rooted in soil or water
	plants of saline areas
	stem fleshy
	plants with stems or stemless, but with more than one pair of leaves
	leaves without stipules
	leaves opposite
	leaves scale-like
	flowers imbedded in stem
	flowers not subtended by scarious bracts
	sepals herbaceous or fleshy
	flowers with only one floral ring, with sepals but not petals
	stamens and pistils in each flower
	styles 2-3 or of 2-3 branches
	pistil solitary, simple or compound
	flower hypogynous
	ovary superior
	ovary and capsule 1-loculed
	ovary or its locules with only 1 or 2 ovules