Salicornia virginica (common pickleweed, American glasswort, samphire)

Family: Goosefoot

Characteristics
Perennial with fat-jointed stems. Turns greenish-purple or deep rose in winter.

Area
Salt marshes and alkaline flats.

Other
Edible

Polygonum coccineum (smartweed, water smartweed)

Family: Buckwheat

Characteristics
Perennial with narrow spikes of pink flowers. Joints of leafy stems are swollen, and at each join is a thin membrane that looks like a short twist of brown tissue paper.

Area
Ponds, ditches, lagoons.

Polygonum bistortoides (Western knotweed, American bistort, western bistort, smokeweed or mountain meadow knotweed)

Family: Buckwheat

Characteristics
From 12 in to 1.5 ft tall. Leathery leaves, basal on the stem. Inflorescence densely packed with small white to pinkish flowers.

Area
Meadows on edge of lagoons or marshes. Boggy stream banks.

Uses
Edible roots and seeds.

Eriogonum latifolium (coast buckwheat)

Family: Buckwheat

Characteristics
Perennial buckwheat with woody roots. Full heads of white or pink-tinged flowers. Basal clusters of wavy-margined leaves densely felted with white hairs (primarily on underside). Blooms in summer.

Area
Adverse conditions. Thin soil, rocks and cliffs. Coastal bluffs.

Montia sibirica (Siberian montia, Siberian spring beauty, Siberian miner's lettuce, candy flower, pink purslane)

Family: Purslane

Characteristics
Succulent leaves similar to miner's lettuce but stem leaves not fused together. Basa leaves pointed and taper to a long slender stalk. Pinkish or white flowers with deeper pink pencilling.

Area
Moist places: wet ditches, swamps, lagoon and stream edges.

Montia / Claytonia perfoliata (miner's lettuce, winter purslane, Indian lettuce)

Family: Purslane

Characteristics

A trailing plant, with a long petiole (exceptionally up to 20 cm long).

The small pink or white flowers have five petals 2–6 mm long; they appear from February to May or June, and are grouped 5–40 together above a pair of leaves that are united together around the stem to appear as one circular leaf. 

It is common in the spring. As the days get hotter, the leaves turn a deep red color as they dry out.

Area

Prefers cool, damp conditions. Appears in sunlit areas after the first heavy rains. Found in shaded areas by summer. 

Uses

The common name of miner's lettuce refers to its use by California Gold Rush miners who ate it to get their vitamin C to prevent scurvy. It can be eaten as a leaf vegetable. Most commonly it is eaten raw in salads, but it is not quite as delicate as other lettuce. Sometimes it is boiled like spinach, which it resembles in taste.

Stellaria littoralis (shore chickweed, beach starwort)

Description
Pink Family. Perennial herb with sprawling, branching stems which are four-angled and hairy, reaching up to about 60 cm long. Lance-shaped or pointed oval leaves oppositely arranged in pairs. Flower has five hairy, pointed green sepals. There are 5 white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two.

Location
Marshes. Coastal bluffs. Bogs. Lagoons. Directly above beaches.