barilla

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Either of two Mediterranean saltworts (Salsola kali or S. soda) or a similar plant (Halogeton sativus), burned to obtain a crude soda ash.
2. n. The crude sodium carbonate ash obtained from these plants.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The commercial name of the impure carbonate and sulphate of soda imported from Spain and the Levant, and obtained from several fleshy plants growing by the sea or in saline localities, mostly belonging to the chenopodiaceous genera Salsola, Salicornia, and Chenopodium. The plants are dried and burned, and the incinerated ashes constitute barilla. This was once the chief source of carbonate of soda, but is now used principally in the manufacture of soap and glass. British barilla is the crude soda-ash left from common salt in the manufacture of carbonate of soda.
2. n. Grains of native copper disseminated in sandstone. Also called copper barilla (Sp. barilla de cobre).
3. n. plural In a gold-mill, wooden divisions of blanket-strakes, copper plates, etc.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several unrelated saltmarsh plants that were once burnt to obtain soda ash
2. n. The alkali produced from the plant, an impure carbonate of soda, used for making soap, glass, etc., and for bleaching.
3. n. Impure soda obtained from the ashes of any seashore plant, or kelp.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A name given to several species of Salsola from which soda is made, by burning the barilla in heaps and lixiviating the ashes.
2. n. The alkali produced from the plant, being an impure carbonate of soda, used for making soap, glass, etc., and for bleaching purposes.
3. n. Impure soda obtained from the ashes of any seashore plant, or kelp.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. bushy plant of Old World salt marshes and sea beaches having prickly leaves; burned to produce a crude soda ash
2. n. Algerian plant formerly burned to obtain calcium carbonate