Salsola kali
Salsola vermiculata
common saltwort, prickly Russian thistle, Russian thistle, saltwort, tumbleweed
Damascus saltwort, Mediterranean saltwort, shrubby Russian thistle
erect to ascending, branched from base;
branches arcuate or, occasionally, almost prostrate.
erect, branched at woody base;
branches erect or ascending, virgate.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 kali
Salsola vermiculata
Subspecies ca. 2 (2 in the flora).
(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.)
1. Perianth segments with rigid, subspinose apex and prominent midvein; bracteoles distinct, not swol- len | subsp. kali |
1. Perianth segments with weak apex and obscure midvein; bracteoles connate at base, swollen | subsp. pontica |
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