Pickleweed and cordgrass are both key plants in the salt marsh ecosystem. Pickleweed has adapted to living in the intertidal zone and can tolerate high salinity. As pickleweed's cells take in salt, special vacuoles sequester the salt. The tips of the pickleweed turn red and drop off, returning the salt to the marsh. By fall, much of the pickleweed has turned red.
New growth occurs during the rainy winter season.
The pickleweed is home for the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, one of the South Bay's endangered species. Cordgrass survives in salty water using a different mechanism to excrete salt. If you look at a blade closely, you can see salt crystals. The California Clapper Rail, another endangered species, lives along the banks of the sloughs of the salt marsh. A shy bird, the California Clapper Rail hides within vegetation.