A plant that was historically burned to produce soda ash (sodium carbonate), a key ingredient in glassmaking.
From 'glass' + 'weed,' named for its use in glass production. Plants like saltwort and glasswort were harvested and burned, leaving alkali-rich ash called 'barilla' that was exported for glassmaking.
Before the Solvay process (1863) made synthetic soda ash, entire Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal industries existed just to harvest and burn these plants—Spain and France were major exporters, and the economics of glassmaking literally depended on weed supply.
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