The annual species grow in temperate salines and ruderal places, while the perennials are found in warm and hot deserts.

Halogeton sativus was cultivated for the enormous 18th Century barilla industry in Spain that produced soda ash.

Halogeton glomeratus is considered a noxious weed in most regions of the United States;[2] a particular difficulty with H. glomeratus is that it is poisonous to sheep, and possibly to cattle, due to the high concentration of sodium oxalate in the dry plant.

The genus includes about 5 species: Hossein Akhani, Gerald Edwards, Eric H. Roalson:Diversification Of The Old World Salsoleae S.L.

(Chenopodiaceae): Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis Of Nuclear And Chloroplast Data Sets And A Revised Classification In: International Journal of Plant Sciences, 168(6), p. 942 and 945-946, 2007.