Hammada salicornica (Moq.) Iljin
Caroxylon salicornicum Moq., Haloxylon salicornicum (Moq.) Boiss., Haloxylon schweinfurthii Asch.
Spa.: Barrilla tamojo. Fre.: Saligne à balai. Ara.: Remt, rimt, hardjem, nadjrem, baggel, harmaq, bessit, oouan idehan. Tam : Ouanihdane, iremt, tafou.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 60 cm in high, very branchy, with a whitish appearance due to its old white or yellowish-white branches. Cylindrical twigs, articulated, of ashy color, glaucous. Opposite leaves welded to each other and to the article, with a slightly separated apex and slightly membranous margin, with densely hairy-woolly axils. Young stems often show bird-beak-shaped galls, with a reddish interior, very characteristic of this species. Flowering branches that arise irregularly from the green stems of the year. Hermaphrodite flowers in the axil of the leaves. Inflorescence in dense spike at the end of the terminal or lateral fertile branches of the year. The fruit is an achene surrounded by the 5 perianth parts, each with a dorsal wing. Wings uneven, overlapping, greenish-yellowish, pink or pale.
Flowering:
September-November.
Fruiting:
October-February.
Habitat:
Sandy and rocky soils of desert and semi-desert areas, regs and steppes, also in river dry beds and land depressions.
Distribution:
It is present in the northernmost Sahara, from Algeria to Egypt, reaching for the E to Pakistan.
Conservation status:
Relatively common and widely distributed species that is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.