''Halothamnus glaucus'' is a species of the plant genus ''

Halothamnus ''Halothamnus'' is a genus in the subfamily Salsoloideae of the family Amaranthaceae (s.l., now including Chenopodiaceae). The scientific name means saltbush, from the Greek ἅλς (''hals'') "salt" and θαμνος (''thamnos'') "bush". This r ...

'', that belongs to the subfamily Salsoloideae of the family Amaranthaceae, (formerly Chenopodiaceae). It occurs in Western and Central Asia.

Morphology

''Halothamnus glaucus'' is a

sub-shrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their De ...

up to 1 m high, with blueish-green pale-striped branches. The leaves are half-terete, fleshy, linear and up to 50 mm long and 0,7-2,0 mm wide. The

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s and bracteoles of the lower flowers resemble the leaves, the bracts having basally wide membraneous margins. The flowers are 3,5-5,0 mm long with lanceolate-oval tepals, the stigmas are rounded at their tip. The winged fruit is 11–17 mm in diameter, its wings inserted in or something below the middle. The tube of the fruit is broadly cylindric, often dilated to its base, its bottom with circular-oval pits. file:Halothamnus glaucus fruit 1.JPG, fruit (lateral view) file:Halothamnus glaucus fruit 2.JPG, fruit (bottom Halothamnus Pollen 1

The species comprises three subspecies: subsp. ''glaucus'', glabrous, and the stamen filaments 0,6-0,9 mm wide; subsp. ''hispidulus'', densely hairy, and the stamen filaments only 0,5-0,7 mm wide; and subsp. ''tianschanicus'' with truncate stigmas.

Taxonomy

Halothamnus glaucus as Salsola spicata by Pallas

The species has been first described in 1798 by

Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein Baron Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (30 July 1768 in Stuttgart – 28 June 1826 in Merefa) was an early explorer of the flora and archeology of the southern portion of Imperial Russia, including the Caucasus and Novorossiya. He compi ...

as ''Salsola glauca'' (In: Tableau des provinces situées sur la côte occidentale de la Mer Caspienne, St. Pétersbourg, 1798, p. 112). In 1981,

Victor Petrovič Botschantzev Victor Petrovitch Botchantsev (russian: Виктор Петрович Бочанцев) (20 October 1910 - 30 August 1990) was a Russian botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of ...

included it into the genus ''

'' (In: Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 18: p. 157). Within the genus, it belongs to section ''Halothamnus''. Halothamnus glaucus is classified into three subspecies: ;''Halothamnus glaucus'' subsp. ''glaucus'' Synonyms: *''Salsola glauca'' M.Bieb. *''Caroxylon glaucum'' (M.Bieb.) Moq. *''Aellenia glauca'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen *''Aellenia glauca'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. ''eu-glauca'' Aellen, nom.inval *''Aellenia glauca'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. ''glauca'' *''Aellenia glauca'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. ''eu-glauca'' Aellen f. ''reducta'' Aellen *''Salsola spicata'' Pall. (non Willd. 1798), nom.illeg *''Halothamnus heptapotamicus'' Botsch. ;''Halothamnus glaucus'' subsp. ''hispidulus'' (Bunge) Kothe-Heinr. Synonyms: *''Caroxylon hispidulum'' Bunge *''Salsola hispidula'' (Bunge) Boiss *''Salsola hispidula'' (Bunge) Bunge, nom.inval *''Aellenia glauca'' (M.Bieb.) Aellen ssp. ''hispidula'' (Bunge) Aellen *''Aellenia hispidula'' (Bunge) Botsch. *''Aellenia hispidula'' (Bunge) Aellen, nom. Inval *''Halothamnus hispidulus'' (Bunge) Botsch. ;''Halothamnus glaucus'' subsp. ''tianschanicus'' (Botsch.) Kothe-Heinr. Synonyms: *''Halothamnus tianschanicus'' Botsch.

Distribution

The distribution of ''Halothamnus glaucus'' extends from eastern Turkey over Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

( Dzungaria, possibly Kashgaria) and Mongolia, too. It grows in dry

semidesert A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

s or mountain

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

s on stony or clayey ground, partly on salty soils, up to 2000 m above sea-level.

Cultivation and uses

''Halothamnus glaucus'' is an important fodder plant for camels, sheep and goatsG. K. Kinzikaeva: ''Aellenia''. - In: P. N. Občinnikov (Hrsg.): ''Flora Tadžikskoj SSR'' 3: p.419-425. - Leningrad: Nauka, 1968 and is locally cultivated.N. T. Nečaeva et al.: ''Žiznennye formy rastenij pustyni Karakumy.'' - Moskva: Izdat. "Nauka", 1973 In former centuries, potash was extracted from the ash of the plants. The roots and above ground parts of the plants are containing alkaloids.

Vernacular names

*Azerbaijan: "Lekeli Š." *Iran, Khorasan: "Baebae", "Baebae-shour" *Turkmenistan: "Čoganok", "Čogon" *China: 新疆藜 xin jiang li
''Halothamnus glaucus'' in Flora of China

References

Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich
''Revision der Gattung ''Halothamnus'' (Chenopodiaceae).'' Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143
Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1993, , p. 101-112 Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: ''Halothamnus''. - In: Karl Heinz Rechinger et al. (Edit.): ''Flora Iranica Bd. 172, Chenopodiaceae'' - Akad. Druck, Graz 1997, , p. 275-278 and fig. 7-8, tab. 154 Helmut Freitag, Vagif Atamov, Esat Çetin, Mustafa Aslan: ''The genus ''Halothamnus'' Jaub. & Spach (Chenopodiaceae) in Turkey''
- Turk. J. Bot. 33, 2009: p. 325-334.

External links

* * * *
''Halothamnus glaucus'' at Tropicos

{{Taxonbar, from=Q146089 Halothamnus, glaucus Taxa named by Victor Botchantsev