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Glasswort (Noun)

Bushy plant of Old World salt marshes and sea beaches having prickly leaves; burned to produce a crude soda ash.

Nouns denoting plants.

The glasswort that grew along the salt marsh was prized for its unusual foliage and uses in soap-making.
Glasswort was traditionally collected and burned to create soda ash, an essential ingredient in the production of glass.
The old glassworks relied heavily on local supplies of glasswort, without which they could not have operated.
As the glass industry evolved, alternative methods for producing soda ash eventually made the collection of glasswort unnecessary.
Due to over-harvesting, many once-abundant stands of glasswort in salt marshes along the coast have begun to decline.

Fleshy maritime plant having fleshy stems with rudimentary scalelike leaves and small spikes of minute flowers; formerly used in making glass.

Nouns denoting plants.

Glasswort can grow in the most inhospitable salt-encrusted environments near the ocean.
Historians believe that early glassmakers in Europe relied heavily on glasswort as a primary ingredient.
Although the exact process remains unclear, the ashes of the glasswort plant were mixed with silica and lime to produce a raw form of glass.
The glasswort's unique crystalline structures have made it a valuable subject for studies in materials science and botany.
In its prime habitats near coastal salt pans, dense patches of glasswort serve an important ecological purpose as a natural shielding for small shoreline creatures.