''Tamarix gallica'', the French tamarisk, is a deciduous, herbaceous, twiggy shrub or small tree reaching up to about 5 meters high. It is indigenous to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

and the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

, and very common around the

Mediterranean 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 ...

region. It is present in many other areas as an invasive

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

, often becoming a noxious weed. It was first described for botanical classification by the taxonomist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in 1753, but had already been in cultivation since 1596.

Description

It has fragile, woody branchlets that drop off in autumn along with the small, scale-like

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

that cover them. The leaf-shape is an adaptation over time to exceedingly dry conditions. The pink

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s are tiny, hermaphroditic, and are borne on narrow, feather-like spikes. They frequently bloom earlier than the leaves, first in May, and sometimes a second time in August. In its native range the plant grows in moist areas such as riverbanks, especially in

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 ...

.A Guide to Medicinal Plants in North Africa
/ref> It has been grown as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

for its profuse production of showy pink flower spikes. In

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and surrounding areas it has been used medicinally for rheumatism,

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...

, and other maladies. Its juice is an ingredient for Gaz, a Persian delicacy from

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Tamarix gallica'' (French tamarisk)
— ''introduced species in California''.
Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Tamarix gallica''
— ''introduced species''. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q164285 gallica Flora of North Africa Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of Southwestern Europe Flora of Western Asia Trees of Europe Flora of Algeria Flora of Egypt Flora of Libya Flora of Saudi Arabia Flora of France Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Medicinal plants