Salsola kali |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
common saltwort, prickly Russian thistle, Russian thistle, saltwort, tumbleweed |
|||||
Habit | Herbs, 5–50 cm, papillose to hispid or, occasionally, glabrous. | ||||
Stems | erect to ascending, branched from base; branches arcuate or, occasionally, almost prostrate. |
||||
Leaves | alternate; blade linear, mostly 1–2 mm wide in herbarium specimens, fleshy, usually not swollen at base, apex ± acuminate into rather firm, 1–1.5(–2.2) mm spine. |
||||
Inflorescences | interrupted at maturity, usually 1-flower per axil of bract; bracts alternate, not imbricate at maturity, reflexed, not distinctly swollen at base, apex narrowing into subulate spine. |
||||
Flowers | bracteoles free or becoming connate and adnate to perianth base; perianth segments with comparatively narrow wing or in lower flowers occasionally wingless (in S. kali subsp. pontica sometimes prominently winged), with weak or firm, acute apex, glabrous; fruiting perianth 4–6(–8) mm diam. 2n = 36. |
||||
Salsola kali |
|||||
Distribution |
AL; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; ME; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; VA; NB; NF; NS; PE; QC; coastal areas of Europe; n Africa; sw Asia [Introduced and naturalized in other coastal regions]
|
||||
Discussion | Subspecies ca. 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
||||
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 400. | ||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Salsola | ||||
Sibling taxa | |||||
Subordinate taxa | |||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 222. (1753) | ||||
Web links |
|