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.[1][2]
fruit (lateral view)
fruit (bottom
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.[1][2]
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.[1][2]
Halothamnus glaucus is classified into three subspecies:[1][2]
Halothamnus glaucus is an important fodder plant for camels, sheep and goats[4] and is locally cultivated.[5] In former centuries,
potash was extracted from the ash of the plants.[6] The roots and above ground parts of the plants are containing
alkaloids.[7]
^G. K. Kinzikaeva: Aellenia. - In: P. N. Občinnikov (Hrsg.): Flora Tadžikskoj SSR 3: p.419-425. - Leningrad: Nauka, 1968
^
abN. 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.