Succeeds in poor soils, saline soils and a sunny position. Tolerates light shade and maritime exposure.

Leaves - raw in salads or cooked as a potherb. Thick and succulent with a good crunchy texture and a natural saltiness. They need careful washing when collected from the wild.

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a cold frame. The seed germinates from winter onwards. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Very easy. Division in spring.

Salt marshes, especially fringing channels and pools, usually flooded at full tide.