Forms: 7 chali, 8 kaly, caly, 6– kali. [Arab. qalī: see ALKALI.]
1. The Prickly Saltwort or Glasswort (Salsola Kali); = ALKALI 2. Also applied to other species of Salsola, as Barilla (Salsola Soda).
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxviii. 115. The herbe named of the Arabians Kali, or Alkali.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 116. A desart producing here and there … a weed called Kali [printed Kall] by the Arabs.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 51. Glasse, whose materialls are fine sand, and the ashes of Chali or Fearne.
1766. W. Stork, Acc. E. Florida, 49. This herb resembles entirely our samphire in England, and is called barilla or kaly.
1884. Evang. Mag., 343. Here, among the softer sand … is growing … the Kali, or Saltwort.
b. Egyptian Kali, name for Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 306.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxi. 293. Egyptian Kali, esteemed for making the best potash, is also of this genus.
† 2. A saline substance obtained by the calcination of saltwort; soda-ash; = ALKALI 1; hence, vegetable alkali, potash. (Latinized kalium, whence the chemical symbol K for potassium.)
1799. W. G. Browne, Trav. Africa, etc. xxv. 397, note. Twenty-five pounds of kali, and five pounds of pulverized chalk.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 437. Take of nitrate of kali, six pounds.
1819. Pantologia, s.v., The kali of the pharmacopeias is the vegetable alkali or potash.
