barilla

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of several Mediterranean halophytes, especially Salsola kali, S. soda, or Halogeton sativus, that were formerly burned to obtain a crude soda ash.
• noun The crude sodium carbonate ash that was obtained from these plants.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun 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.
• noun Grains of native copper disseminated in sandstone. Also called copper barilla (Sp. barilla de cobre).
• noun plural In a gold-mill, wooden divisions of blanket-strakes, copper plates, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Bot.) A name given to several species of Salsola from which soda is made, by burning the barilla in heaps and lixiviating the ashes.
• noun The alkali produced from the plant, being an impure carbonate of soda, used for making soap, glass, etc., and for bleaching purposes.
• noun Impure soda obtained from the ashes of any seashore plant, or kelp.
• noun (Min.) native copper in granular form mixed with sand, an ore brought from Bolivia; -- called also Barilla de cobre.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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