''Halothamnus iranicus'' 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
Southwest Asia.
Morphology
''Halothamnus iranicus'' 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 45 cm high and 100 cm in diameter, with blueish-green branches. It smells unpleasantly like rancid butter. The leaves are linear to triangular-ovate, and up to 11 mm long. The flowers are at 1–6 mm distance from each other, 3.2-4.2 mm long, longer than their
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 ...
and
bracteoles, with oblong-ovate
tepals. The stigmas are tapering towards the apex. The winged fruit is 7–11 mm in diameter, their wings inserting at 1/3 of the fruit height. The fruit tube is nearly cylindrical, with narrow, sharp-edged peripheral rim and small, ovate pits.
file:Halothamnus iranicus fruit 1.JPG, fruit (lateral view)
file: Halothamnus iranicus fruit.JPG, fruit (bottom)
Taxonomy
''Halothamnus iranicus'' has been first described in 1981 by
Victor Petrovič Botschantzev (in: Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 18, p. 153). Within the genus, it belongs to the section ''Halothamnus''.
Distribution
''Halothamnus iranicus'' is
endemic in southern
Iran and in southwest
Pakistan (
Baluchistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
). It grows in habitats with a mild winter climate, on rocky, stony, partly salty soils, from 0–930 m above sea level.
References
* Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich
''Revision der Gattung ''Halothamnus'' (Chenopodiaceae)''. Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143 Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1993, , p. 57-61
* Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: ''Halothamnus''. - In: Karl Heinz Rechinger et al. (Edit.): ''Flora Iranica Bd. 172, Chenopodiaceae'' - Akad. Druck, Graz 1997, , p. 263-265, and fig.7-8, tab.148
External links
*
*
''Halothamnus iranicus'' at Tropicos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q150421
iranicus
Taxa named by Victor Botchantsev