Salsola collina
Salsola vermiculata
slender Russian-thistle, slender saltwort, tumbleweed
Damascus saltwort, Mediterranean saltwort, shrubby Russian thistle
erect, rarely ascending, branched above base (occasionally with slender branches near base);
branches straight or slightly arcuate.
erect, branched at woody base;
branches erect or ascending, virgate.
alternate;
blade filiform to narrowly linear, 1–2 mm wide, less than 1 mm wide in herbarium specimens, usually not fleshy, sometimes semi-amplexicaul at base, apex with soft bristle (rarely subspinescent).
alternate, bearing several reduced, ca. 1–4 mm leaves in their axils;
blade lanceolate, 5–8 × 0.5–1 mm, fleshy, expanding into ovate base (gibbous), apex obtuse, usually pubescent.
not interrupted, dense, 1-flowered (rarely 2–3-flowered), often also in axils of proximal leaves and branches, lower ones tightly enclosed in bracts and bracteoles, forming gall-like caducous balls at maturity;
bracts alternate, strongly imbricate and appressed at maturity, base not distinctly swollen, apex acuminate into subulate spine.
not interrupted, primary axis sometimes paniculately branched, 1-flowered (rarely 2–3-flowered);
bracts alternate, not imbricate, not reflexed, base gibbous, apex obtuse, usually densely pubescent.
bracteoles becoming connate basally and adnate to perianth segments;
perianth segments wingless or with narrow, erose wing at maturity, apex acute, weak and flaccid, glabrous; fruiting perianth ca. 2–5 mm diam. 2n = 18.
bracteoles distinct, free, perianth segments winged at maturity, apex conic, sparsely pubescent above wings (especially apically) sometimes becoming glabrous; fruiting perianth (including wings) 7–10(–12) mm diam. 2n =18.
Salsola collina
Salsola vermiculata
Salsola collina was reported for the first time for North America from Minnesota by J. W. Moore (1938). It was collected in Kansas in 1923 (R. E. Brooks et al. 1976), but misidentified. Later it was discovered in Colorado, Iowa, and Missouri (V. L. Cory 1948; W. Schapaugh 1958; V. Muhlenbach 1979). Reports of S. collina for Arizona and New York are based on specimens cited by S. Rilke (1999). Its actual distribution seems to be underestimated due to the common and constant confusion with deviant forms of S. tragus. In the future, S. collina may be expected to occur within the major portion of the present range of S. tragus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Salsola vermiculata is a locally persistent, escaped weed. It was reported naturalized near an abandoned experimental plot in San Luis Obispo County (possibly also in Kern County), where it was previously tested as a potential forage plant introduced from Syria in 1969. Salsola vermiculata sensu lato is designated as a federal noxious weed by the United States Department of Agriculture (R. G. Westbrooks 1993). It is so far the only perennial species of Salsola introduced to North America. Together with related Eurasian and African taxa, it should probably be segregated into a separate genus, Caroxylon Thunberg (N. N. Tzvelev 1993).
Salsola vermiculata sensu lato is a taxonomically complicated and morphologically polymorphic complex. North American material most probably belongs to S. damascena Botschantzev (V. P. Botschantzev 1975, 1975b). It fits the protologue and the type specimen deposited at LE, but additional study and comparison with other Eurasian “microspecies” are necessary. Some of these taxa remain little known and poorly understood taxonomically.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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PNW Herbaria, 
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