Salsola tetragona Delile
S. pachoi Volkens & Asch., Caroxylon tetragonum (Delile) Moq.
Ara. (Egypt): Tarteer.
Evergreen subshrub up to 50(100) cm in high, yellowish gray, highly branched from the base. Axillary branches and twigs pubescent, with appressed hairs, approximately 0.3 mm, somewhat longer at the insertion of the leaves. Squamiform opposite leaves, very intertwined, so much so that the young twigs are not visible, to which they give a clearly tetragonal appearance, fleshy, obtuse, villous, 2-2.5 x 1.5 mm, a little coriaceous, with very short and applied hairs. Flowers solitary, hermaphrodite, arranged in the axilla of the upper leaves, provided with 2 bracteoles. Perianth with 5 sepals, 5 stamens and bifid style of subulate stigmas. The fruit is an achene surrounded by an acrescent-hardened perianth with sepals welded to the base, forming a crown 6-8 mm in diameter, purple or yellowish. Subglobose seed, horizontal, 2-2.5 mm in diameter.
Flowering:
In spring or in the Sahara, after the rains.
Fruiting:
About 2 months after flowering.
Habitat:
Plains and depressions in desert lands and more or less saline.
Distribution:
It is widely distributed throughout the Sahara, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and Palestine.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species, 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) S. tetragona is listed as “Endangered”.