Halothamnus glaucus is a species of the plant genus Halothamnus, that belongs to the subfamily Salsoloideae of the family Amaranthaceae, (formerly Chenopodiaceae). It occurs in Western and Central Asia.
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 resemble 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, its wings inserted 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 comprises three subspecies: subsp. glaucus, glabrous, and the stamen filaments 0,6-0,9 mm wide; subsp. hispidulus, densely hairy, and the stamen filaments only 0,5-0,7 mm wide; and subsp. tianschanicus with truncate stigmas.
Taxonomy
The species has been first described in 1798 by Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein as Salsola glauca (In: Tableau des provinces situées sur la côte occidentale de la Mer Caspienne, St. Pétersbourg, 1798, p. 112). In 1981, Victor Petrovič Botschantzev included it into the genus Halothamnus (In: Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 18: p. 157). Within the genus, it belongs to section Halothamnus.
Halothamnus glaucus is classified into three subspecies: Halothamnus glaucus subsp. glaucus Synonyms: Salsola glauca M.Bieb. Caroxylon glaucum (M.Bieb.) Moq. Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. eu-glauca Aellen, nom.inval Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. glauca Aellenia glauca (M.Bieb.) Aellen subsp. eu-glauca Aellen f. reducta Aellen Salsola spicata Pall. (non Willd. 1798), nom.illeg Halothamnus heptapotamicus Botsch.
Halothamnus glaucus subsp. hispidulus (Bunge) Kothe-Heinr. Synonyms: 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.
Halothamnus glaucus subsp. tianschanicus (Botsch.) Kothe-Heinr. Synonyms: Halothamnus tianschanicus Botsch.
Distribution The distribution of Halothamnus glaucus extends from eastern Turkey over Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan to China (Dzungaria, possibly Kashgaria) and 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 goatsG. K. Kinzikaeva: Aellenia. - In: P. N. Občinnikov (Hrsg.): Flora Tadžikskoj SSR 3: p.419-425. - Leningrad: Nauka, 1968 and is locally cultivated.N. T. Nečaeva et al.: Žiznennye formy rastenij pustyni Karakumy. - Moskva: Izdat. "Nauka", 1973 In former centuries, potash was extracted from the ash of the plants.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. The roots and above ground parts of the plants are containing alkaloids.T. A. Adylov: Âdovitye i alkaloidonosnye rasteniâ Karakulevodčeskich pastbiŝ Uzbekistana. - Taškent: Izdat. Fil. Akad. Nauk Uzbeksk. SSR, 1970.
Vernacular names Azerbaijan: "Lekeli Š."Â. M. Isaev: Chenopodiaceae. In: I. I. Karâgin (Ed.): Flora Azerbajdjana 3. - Baku: Izdat. Akad. Nauk Azerbajdjanskoj SSR., 1952 Iran, Khorasan: "Baebae", "Baebae-shour"A. Parsa: Flore de l'Iran 8: Index des noms vernaculaires locaux-latins. - Téhran: Publications de l'Université de Téhran. 1960 Turkmenistan: "Čoganok", "Čogon" Ž. Kurbanov: Konspekt flory zapadnych nizkogorij i srednegorij Kopetdaga (severo-zapadnyj Kopetdag i drugie nizkogoriâ zapadnoj Turkmenii). - Ašchabad: Izdat. "Ylym" 1988. China: 新疆藜 xin jiang li Halothamnus glaucus in Flora of China
References Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: Revision der Gattung Halothamnus (Chenopodiaceae). Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143, Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1993, , p. 101-112 Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: Halothamnus. - In: Karl Heinz Rechinger et al. (Edit.): Flora Iranica Bd. 172, Chenopodiaceae - Akad. Druck, Graz 1997, , p. 275-278 and fig. 7-8, tab. 154 Helmut Freitag, Vagif Atamov, Esat Çetin, Mustafa Aslan: The genus Halothamnus Jaub. & Spach (Chenopodiaceae) in Turkey - Turk. J. Bot. 33, 2009: p. 325-334.
External links
Halothamnus glaucus at Tropicos Photos of Halothamnus glaucus at plantarium.ru