Citation: Paul G. Wilson, Paul G. Wilson, Nuytsia 3:28 (1980).

Derivation: Greek halos, salt; sarx, flesh; referring to the saline habitat and succulent nature of the plants.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Samphires.

Description:
Glabrous shrubs or herbs; branches when young of globose to cylindrical internodes (segments or articles); segments succulent, the outer portion eventually shrivelling and deciduous, apex shortly cup-shaped or bilobed representing the reduced opposite leaves.

Inflorescence a spike-like thyrse usually terminal to a branchlet, consisting of triads of flowers (cymes) in the axil of each bract (in H. pluriflora up to 7 flowers in a cyme); opposite bracts united or rarely free, succulent; flowers sessile, usually bisexual, in some variants only female; perianth of fused segments, initially membranous or succulent; lobes 3 (2 lateral and a medial abaxial); stamen solitary, abaxial; ovary vertical, membranous or succulent; style slender, 2- or rarely 3-lobed.

Fruiting perianth membranous, succulent, spongy, pithy, crustaceous or horny; seed ovoid to circular; testa membranous to crustaceous; embryo curved; perisperm abundant, lateral.

Distribution:  Endemic to Australia except for H. indica which also occurs in Malaysia and in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. (P. G. Wilson (1980) Nuytsia 3:28-69.)

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Opposite bracts free from each other
2. Seed pale-brown, tuberculate over the embryo	H. flabelliformis 2.
2. Seed white with prominent uneven scale-like ribs	H. pterygosperma 12.
1. Opposite bracts united
3. Perianth apex rounded to truncate
4. Seed white, with scale-like ribs
5. Spikes long and slender, even in outline; ribs smooth, only on the circumference of the seed	H. lepidosperma 6.
5. Spikes short, undulate in outline; ribs uneven, covering the whole of the seed	H. pterygosperma 12.
4. Seed brown to black, tuberculate to granular
6. Seed a dark reddish-brown to black, covered with concentric ribs	H. pergranulata 9.
6. Seed brown, variously tuberculate
7. Bracts denticulate or ciliolate; cymules 3-7-flowered
8. Cymules 3-flowered; seed concentrically tuberculate over the embryo	H. halocnemoides 4.
8. Cymules 3-7-flowered; seed concentrically ridged over the embryo	H. pluriflora 10.
7. Bracts entire; cymules 3-flowered
9. Branches and spikes very slender, smooth in outline (resembling Casuarinaceae branchlets); fruit apex mammillate	H. lylei 7.
9. Branches undulate in outline
10. Fruitlets falling entire (not tearing at the base to expose the seed); abaxial perianth lobe external .	H. fontinalis 3.
10. Fruitlets tearing at the base to expose the seed; abaxial perianth lobe internal	H. halocnemoides 4.
3. Perianth dorsiventrally flattened at the apex
11. Margins of articles and of bracts denticulate or ciliate
12. Perianth in fruit pithy; pericarp horny all over; fruitlets entire (not torn at the base)	H. indica 5.
12. Perianth thin in fruit, membranous or cartilaginous; pericarp membranous (at least towards the base); fruitlets tearing at the base to expose the seed	H. nitida 8.
11. Margins of articles and bracts entire
13. Perianth pithy in fruit; pericarp horny (at least towards the apex)	H. indica 5.
13. Perianth various (but not pithy) in fruit
14. Perianth papery or soft; fruitlets free from each other	H. cupuliformis 1.
14. Perianth crustaceous; fruitlets free or united
15. Fruitlets united	H. syncarpa 13.
15. Fruitlets free
16. Bracts truncate or undulate on the margin, cup-shaped at the fruiting stage; fruitlets muricate; spikes terminal, pedunculate	H. pruinosa 11.
16. Bracts undulate, shrivelled at the fruiting stage; spikes usually sessile	H. undulata 14.

Author: Not yet available