Salsola oppositifolia Desf.
S. longifolia auct., S. verticillata auct.
Spa.: Zagua, salado negro. Fre.: Soude à longues feuilles. Ara.: Semmumed, al asla, smumel, tasra, azil. Tam.: Tarmut.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, ± upright, up to 4 m in height (usually 0.8-2 m), very ramose from the base. Trunk and main branches with white bark, fissured longitudinally on older specimens. Glabrescent plant in all its parts. Branches, branchlets and leaves opposite. Branchlets greenish-white, younger branchlets sometimes reddish. Its main feature —which gives it its name— are opposite leaves (1-3 cm long), sessile, linear, trigonous, acute, slightly recurved backwards, fleshy, dark green in colour, or ± ashy due to the waxy powder that covers them. Flowers all hermaphrodite, solitary in the leaf axil, in spiciform inflorescences arranged in panicles. Perianth with 5 membranous parts and 5 stamens. Fruit perianth with large and showy wings, first whitish-green and later turning from pink to red (20-30 mm in diameter).
Flowering:
April to October.
Fruiting:
In autumn.
Habitat:
On all types of terrain, including rocky and sandy, always somewhat saline, in coastal and inland areas. Semiarid to dry bioclimate.
Distribution:
Southern Spain and Italy, Balearic Islands and Sicily. It appears in North Africa widely distributed scattered in areas of Mediterranean influence, especially in islands and coastal areas, reaching towards the E to Egypt, Sinai Peninsula, Arabian Peninsula and Palestine.
Conservation status:
It is a common species and in principle it is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.