Barilla refers to several species of salt-tolerant ("halophyte") plants that, until the 19th Century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence (we now know) of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtained from plant sources. The word is an anglicization of the Spanish word barrilla for "saltwort" plants (a particular category of halophytes).