Inflorescence terminal or lateral, spike-like, with opposite pairs of (1-)3(-7)-flowered cymulesin the axils of bracts or distributed along the vegetative stems. Flowers sessile, bisexual or occasionally femail, andromonoecious (bisexual central floret with male lateral florets) or the plant dioecious; perianth lobes 2, with or without 1 abaxial; stamen 1; ovary 2(-3)-lobed.
Seed white, gold, brown or black, with or without a beak; orientation horizontal, vertical or rotated laterally; embyro straight or curved; perisperm abundant, generally lateral.
Usually in saline areas, either arid or coastal.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | All 3 flowers of triad bisexual or female | 2 |
| Lateral flowers of triad male, central bisexual (seeds only in central flower) | 8 |
| 2 | Seeds smooth and glossy all over; articles with Kranz (C4) anatomy or non-Kranz (C3) anatomy | 3 |
| Seeds variously tuberculate or ribbed around the edge, smooth or ornamented on the sides; articles with non-Kranz (C3) anatomy
Back to 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Margins of leaf lobes finely toothed or finely ciliate (rarely entire); articles with Kranz (C4) anatomy; perianth pithy in fruit | Tecticornia indica |
| Margins of leaf lobes entire; articles with non-Kranz (C3) anatomy; perianth thin and brittle in fruit
Back to 2 | Tecticornia pruinosa |
| 4 | Seeds with deep concentric ridges or colliculate all over | 5 |
| Seeds ribbed, tuberculate or colliculate around the margins, the sides mostly smooth
Back to 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Seeds brown to reddish brown to black, concentrically colliculate all over | Tecticornia pergranulata |
| Seeds pale fawn to cream, deeply concentrically ribbed all over, the tips of the rib cells sometimes free, forming curved to hooked hairs
Back to 4 | Tecticornia pterygosperma |
| 6 | Seeds pale brown with tuberculate ribs around the margins | Tecticornia halocnemoides |
| Seeds reddish brown, colliculate (± ribbed) around the margins
Back to 4 | 7 |
| 7 | Branches and spikes succulent and swollen; projecting or undulate in outline | Tecticornia pluriflora |
| Branches very slender (not swollen); smooth in outline (as in Casuarinaceae)
Back to 6 | Tecticornia lylei |
| 8 | Fleshy stems and leaves angular, robust, 3–6 mm wide; leaf lobes prominent, fleshy, spreading; embryo annular | Tecticornia triandra |
| Fleshy stems and leaves angular, more or less slender, 2–4 mm wide; leaf lobes membranous, not obvious, appressed or spreading; embryo more or less straight, or curved at one end
Back to 1 | 9 |
| 9 | Coastal species; style hard and protruding in fruit | Tecticornia arbuscula |
| Inland species; style not protruding in fruit
Back to 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Flowers axillary, scattered throughout vegetative axes | Tecticornia medullosa |
| Flowers in spike-like terminal inflorescences
Back to 9 | 11 |
| 11 | Spikes with opposite bracts free or nearly so; seed 1.5 mm long, embryo slightly curved | Tecticornia disarticulata |
| Spikes with opposite bracts fused; seed 2.5–3 mm long, embryo straight
Back to 10 | Tecticornia tenuis |
