Salicornia rubra has been introduced into Quebec and Michigan. Populations of
S. rubra from Hudson Bay, growing above mean high water in saltmarshes and estuaries in the vicinity of Churchill, Manitoba, have been described as a distinct species,
S. borealis, but they are now known from several localities in N. Ontario and Yukon. They are on average smaller in all their parts than typical
S. rubra, but they fall within the lower limits of the range of variation for that species. These populations possess one apparently unique feature in that many of the plants branch at the cotyledonary node, a characteristic not known from other North American populations of
Salicornia.
Salicornia rubra is very similar to the Eurasian species S. prostrata Pallas, which occurs in very similar inland habitats. No direct comparison of these two species has been possible and it is not at all clear how they differ from each other.
