Salsola spinescens Moq.
Caroxylon spinescens (Moq.) Akhani & Roalson
Shrub 0.25-1.2 m in height, with rigid stems, with stems and branches of previous years strongly spinescent and usually leafless, orange-brown in colour. Branchlets from the current year short, covered in overlapping leaves, giving the branchlet the appearance of leaf buds. Leaves short 1.5-2 × 1.5 mm, scale-like, alternate, ovate. Young branchlets and leaves densely covered in hairs, medifixed, adpressed and rough. Flowers 1.5-2.5 mm in diameter, solitary. Bracts similar to the leaves; perianth segments 1.5-2.5 mm; stamens 5, without appendages. Fruit perianth 3.5-5 mm including the wings, which are white-pinkish in colour.
Flowering:
In autumn.
Fruiting:
Late autumn and winter.
Habitat:
Sandy or rocky soils, in coastal and subcoastal areas of the Red Sea.
Distribution:
SE Egypt, NE Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Arabia.
Observations:
Another similar species, with spinescent older stems and also present in Egypt is S. cyclophylla Baker [Caroxylon cyclophyllum (Baker) Akhani & Roalson], a subshrub up to 60 cm in height that is well differentiated by having leaves with an indumentum of soft sessile hairs (S. spinescens has medifixed and coarse hairs) and having staminoid appendages.
Conservation status:
These species are somewhat common but in principle none are considered threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species