Histo-Chemical Characteristics of Halophytes

Salinity and drought are abiotic stresses that most affect the growth and productivity of plant species all over the world. Salt-tolerant plants have a range of adaptive characteristics not only in morphological or structural features but also in metabolic and physiological processes that enable them to survive in extreme saline environments. Morphological and anatomical features of halophytes are commonly correlated with the prevailing environmental conditions under which the plants grow. There is a pertinent correlation between the histo-anatomical features of halophytes and the ecological environment in which they breed. Therefore, metabolic pathways and reactions are dramatically affected by such ecological factors. Moisture contents, dry matter contents, lignification, fiber, and starch contents, salt contents, proteins, and amino acids contents, lipids and free fatty acids contents, reactive oxygen species, plant secondary metabolites contents of halophytes are deeply discussed in relation to the histo-chemical characteristics of these unique plants.