Haloxylon persicum Bunge
Eng.: White saxaul. Spa.: Saxaul blanco. Fre.: Saxaoul blanc. Ara.: Ghada
Small hermaphrodite tree or shrub, ramose from the base, up to 3 m in height and main trunk 25 cm in diameter, with light grey bark. Branches from previous year whitish with circular striations. Branches from the current year pale green, slender (1-2 mm in diameter), articulate, erect when young and arching over time, ending in an straw coloured apex. Leaves reduced to scales, 0.5-1.25 mm, acute, connate, with a tuft of hairs at the axil. Flowers in short branchlets like a spike, solitary in a bract axil, obtuse and squamiform. Bracteoles orbicular to ovate, obtuse, with a pronounced central midrib and scarious margin, as long as the flowers. Stamens exserted and staminoids slender, membranous and glabrous. Stigmas 5, sessile. Perianth segments obtuse, membranous, which form wings near the apex when the fruit develops. Wings suborbicular to reniform, usually twisted, base rounded or subcordate, 7-9(12) mm long and yellowish white in colour. Fruit is compressed to 2-2.5 mm in diameter, barely surpassing the winged perianth.
Flowering:
August to November.
Fruiting:
September to November.
Habitat:
Dry and rocky terrains, usually along dry riverbeds, and being able to grow in saline areas.
Distribution:
SW and central Asia, from Egypt to China and Russia. In North Africa it grows in deserts E of the Nile and in the Sinai Peninsula. Naturalised in Tunisia.
Conservation status:
It is a rare species in North Africa but 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. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Endangered”.