Stems erect, green sometimes becoming red, simple or with primary and secondary branches, 5-60 cm, ultimate branches short or long; leaf and bract apices acute, sharply mucronate. Spikes cylindric and slightly torulose, 2-10 cm, with 5-25 fertile segments; bracts almost obscuring cymes. Fertile segments 4-5 × 4.5-6.2 mm, wider than long, widest distally, margins ca. 0.5 mm wide, scarious. Central flower semicircular distally, 2.2-2.8 × 2-2.8 mm, about as long as wide, usually reaching top of segment, only slightly larger than lateral flowers; anthers exserted, dehiscing after exsertion. 2n = 36.

Flowering late summer-early fall, year-round in Fla. Middle levels of saltmarshes; 0-100 m; Calif., Fla., Ga., Maine, Md., Mass., N.J., N.Y., N.C., S.C., Tex., Va.; n Mexico (Caribbean and Pacific coasts).

Salicornia bigelovii probably also occurs in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, but no specimens have been seen that confirm its presence in these states.