My guess:

Marsh Samphire = Salicornia europaea
Eaten boiled with meat or fish (especially), fresh or blanched in salads, pickled by numerous methods, and used as a salt substitute. This is probably the most commonly cultivated variety of what is commonly called "Samphire" for culinary use. Salicornia europaea belongs to the same plant family as beets, spinach, and Swiss chard.

Rock Samphire = Crithmum maritimum
Thick hairless stems and fleshy grey green leaves cut into narrow leaflets are both edible. Cook and suck away the fleshy parts. Belongs to the carrot family.

Salicornia would probably be the most recognized, proper botanical name for the plant in question, while Marsh Samphire or Samphire would be the most proper, common English names.

Violet, thanks for your response. I forgot to post on here that I had found out what it was by myself. It is Salsola or ohikijiri (or something like that). It is on the Evergreen sight. What I was really trying to find out about it besides the name was: does it have the same properties as the regular seaweed found in the ocean, ie., does it have iodine in it. If so, I would like to grow it for that reason alone as it is very hard to find iodine in any land grown veggies. But I still haven't found that out yet but will keep looking. All the sights I have read about it have not answered that question yet. Thanks very much for your very prompt and helpful answers on here!

I assume chances are high that it would have more iodine than most of the normal vegetables we consume.

There is also a warning from a Canadian health agency expressing concern that hijiki seems to build up possibly hazardous levels of arsenic and should be avoided for that reason.

Well, everything in moderation, eh?

Here is a link that might be useful: Warning

Evergreen carries salsola seeds (link below), as does
http://nicholsgardennursery.com

I wonder if the arsenic concentration varies with the soil. Maybe some Japanese soils have lots of arsenic. If so, maybe you could grow it safely in your soil, or in some sort of soiless potting mix.

If I recall correctly, Salicornia and Salsola are chenopods, related to Atriplex (orach), Beta (beets, chard) and Chenopodium (goosefoot, quinoa)

Here is a link that might be useful: salsola from Evergreen

We grow oka hijiki in a greenhouse bench bed(seeds from Kitizawa) for sale to chefs. They are using it as a garnish for fresh fish dishes. I know another chef who has it pickled (he buys it already prepared)and it is served as a salad. The seeds are expensive but once started, the plant is very prolific. We've been cutting all summer & the plants are still going strong. I'm curious to see how it does in the low light of winter. It's fairly easy to start from seed & hasn't been bothered by any pests, which makes it one of our easier plants to grow.

> ... hasn't been bothered by any pests

Of course, duh, the arsenic kills all bugs! ;-)

Salsola komarovii

Coastal plant, therefore sandy soil, wind/salt hardy. Autumn flowering.
Can be boiled as a green or used fresh.
Nutritional value: good source of calcium, iron, potassium, laminin

The land seaweed that I know of is Liscari Sativa and is known as Salsola Soda in Italy. Young leaves and stems are eaten raw in salads while older plants are steamed and served with butter.

herbladypat & RobertEire,

Very interesting... thank you for sharing the info!