Halothamnus glaucus
Halothamnus glaucus is a species of the plant genus Halothamnus, that is now included into the family Amaranthaceae, (formerly Chenopodiaceae).
Morphology
Halothamnus glaucus is a sub-shrub up to 1 m high, with blueish-green pale-striped branches. The leaves are half-terete, fleshy, linear and up to 50 mm long and 0,7-2,0 mm wide. The bracts and bracteoles of the lower flowers are resembling the leaves, the bracts having basally wide membraneous margins. The flowers are 3,5-5,0 mm long with lanceolate-oval tepals, the stigmas are rounded at their tip. The winged fruit is 11-17 mm in diameter, their wings inserting in or something below the middle. The tube of the fruit is broadly cylindric, often dilated to its base, its bottom with circular-oval pits.
The species is classified into three subspecies:
- ssp. glaucus, glabrous, and the stamen filaments 0,6-0,9 mm wide
- ssp. hispidulus, densely hairy, and the stamen filaments only 0,5-0,7 mm wide
- ssp. tianschanicus with truncate stigmas.
Distribution
The distribution of Halothamnus glaucus extends from eastern Turkey over Georgien, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Turkmenistan, northern Iran, Kasachstan, Usbekistan, Kirghistan to China (Dsungaria, possibly Kashgaria und Mongolia, too). It grows in dry semideserts or mountain steppes on stony or clayey ground, partly on salty soils, up to 2000 m above sea-level.
Cultivation and uses
Halothamnus glaucus is an important fodder plant for camels, sheep and goats[1] and is locally cultivated.[2] In former centuries, potash was extracted from the ash of the plants.[3] The roots and above ground parts of the plants are containing alkaloids.[4]
Taxonomy
Halothamnus glaucus (M.Bieb.) Botsch. s.l., Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 18: 157, 1981.
- Synonyms for ssp. glaucus
- Salsola glauca M.Bieb.
- Caroxylon glaucum (M.Bieb.) Moq.
- Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen.
- Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen ssp. eu-glauca Aellen, nom.inval
- Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen ssp. glauca
- Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen ssp. eu-glauca Aellen f. reducta Aellen
- Salsola spicata Pall. (non Willd. 1798), nom.illeg
- Halothamnus heptapotamicus Botsch.
- Synonyms for ssp. hispidulus (Bunge) Kothe-Heinr., 1993
- Caroxylon hispidulum Bunge
- Salsola hispidula (Bunge) Boiss
- Salsola hispidula (Bunge) Bunge, nom.inval
- Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen ssp. hispidula (Bunge) Aellen
- Aellenia hispidula (Bunge) Botsch
- Aellenia hispidula (Bunge) Aellen, nom. Inval
- Halothamnus hispidulus (Bunge) Botsch
- Synonym for ssp. tianschanicus (Botsch.) Kothe-Heinr., 1993
- Halothamnus tianschanicus Botsch.
- Vernacular names
- Azerbaidjan: LEKELI Š. [5]
- Iran, Khorasan: BAEBAE, BAEBAE-SHOUR [6]
- Turkmenistan: ČOGANOK [2], ČOGON [7]
- China: 新疆藜 xin jiang li [8]
References
- Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: Revision der Gattung Halothamnus (Chenopodiaceae). Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143, Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 978-3-510-48014-2, p.101-112
- Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: Halothamnus. - In: Karl Heinz Rechinger et al. (Edit.): Flora Iranica Bd. 172, Chenopodiaceae - Akad. Druck, Graz 1997, ISBN 3-201-00728-5, p.275-278 and fig. 7-8, tab. 154
- ^ G. K. Kinzikaeva: Aellenia. - In: P. N. Občinnikov (Hrsg.): Flora Tadžikskoj SSR 3: p.419-425. - Leningrad: Nauka, 1968
- ^ a b N. T. Nečaeva et al.: Žiznennye formy rastenij pustyni Karakumy. - Moskva: Izdat. "Nauka", 1973
- ^ F. A. Marschall von Bieberstein: Tableau des provinces situées sur la côte occidentale de la Mer Caspienne (entre les fleuves Terek et Kour). - St. Pétersbourg 1798.
- ^ T. A. Adylov: Âdovitye i alkaloidonosnye rasteniâ Karakulevodčeskich pastbiŝ Uzbekistana. - Taškent: Izdat. Fil. Akad. Nauk Uzbeksk. SSR, 1970.
- ^ Â. M. Isaev: Chenopodiaceae. In: I. I. Karâgin (Ed.): Flora Azerbajdjana 3. - Baku: Izdat. Akad. Nauk Azerbajdjanskoj SSR., 1952
- ^ A. Parsa: Flore de l'Iran 8: Index des noms vernaculaires locaux-latins. - Téhran: Publications de l'Université de Téhran. 1960
- ^ Ž. Kurbanov: Konspekt flory zapadnych nizkogorij i srednegorij Kopetdaga (severo-zapadnyj Kopetdag i drugie nizkogoriâ zapadnoj Turkmenii). - Ašchabad: Izdat. "Ylym" 1988.
- ^ [1] Halothamnus glaucus in Flora of China
External links