''Halocnemum strobilaceum'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of flowering plant in the subfamily

Salicornioideae The Salicornioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae (''sensu lato'', including the Chenopodiaceae). Important characters are succulent, often articulated stems, strongly reduced leaves, and flowers aggregated in thick, ...

of the family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It is native to coastal areas of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

and parts of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and central Asia, where it grows in coastal and inland

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

es,

alkali flats A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...

, and other habitats with

saline soils Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the ...

Description

''Halocnemum strobilaceum'' is a much-branched, semi-prostrate, sub-shrub with erect branches up to a metre or so high. The woody stems at the base are jointed and have sterile, rounded or conical shaped buds, arranged in whorls on the terminal part of each portion. The erect stems are cylindrical and succulent, with green joints that turn yellow as they age. The stubby, bluish-green, scale-like leaves clasp the stem at each node. The flowers are

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

and very small, and are arranged in whorls of three on the upper part of the branches.

Distribution and habitat

''Halocnemum strobilaceum'' is found around the coasts bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It is also present in the Middle East and central Asia as far east as

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and China. In Iran and Pakistan, it grows in the muddy coastal swamps immediately inland from the mangroves (''

Avicennia marina ''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertid ...

'') that border the coast of the Persian Gulf. In the delta region of the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, it dominates some plant communities in the

habitats. In

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

it grows in lagoons with muddy substrates in association with ''

Arthrocnemum macrostachyum ''Arthrocaulon macrostachyum'', synonym ''Arthrocnemum macrostachyum'', is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is native to coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and parts of the Middle East, where it grows i ...

'', and along the storm ridges of shelly sand that form higher up the beach. Gelatinous crusts of

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

sometimes form in depressions in the ground, and when these get dusted with windblown sand, ''H. strobilaceum'' colonises these habitats too. It grows along the sandy

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n coast, forming hummocks, growing alongside

Bassia muricata ''Bassia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae. They are distributed in the western Mediterranean to eastern Asia. Some occur outside their native ranges as introduced species.Cutandia memphitica ''Cutandia'' is a genus of Asian and Mediterranean plants in the grass family. It is native to lands extending from Portugal and Cape Verde to Pakistan and Kazakhstan. ; Species * ''Cutandia dichotoma'' (Forssk.) Trab. - Asia + Africa from Alger ...

and

Traganum nudatum ''Traganum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaranthaceae. Its native range is Macaronesia to Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. Species: * ''Traganum moquinii ''Traganum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the fa ...

. In northwestern China in the provinces of

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

and

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

, it is one of the dominant plants on saline plains, on the shores of salt lakes and at the edges of alluvial fans. Along with

glasswort The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus ''Salicornia'', but today the glass ...

and ''A. macrostachyum'', ''H. strobilaceum'' was one of the first plants to recolonise oil-polluted marshland in the Persian Gulf after the soil had been churned up and aerated by the action of

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

Gallery

File:Βιότοπος Στροφυλιάς 05.jpg, ''Halocnemum strobilaceum''. Prokopos Lagoon, Western

Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. File:Βιότοπος Στροφυλιάς 07.jpg, ''Halocnemum strobilaceum''. Prokopos Lagoon, Western Achaia, Greece. File:Ξωκλήσι Αγίου Πέτρου.jpg, ''Halocnemum strobilaceum''. Prokopos Lagoon, Western Achaia, Greece.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10926875 Amaranthaceae Plants described in 1819 Flora of China Flora of Mongolia Flora of Egypt Flora of Iran Flora of Pakistan Flora of Saudi Arabia