Salsola villosa Schult.
S. vermiculata L. var. villosa (Schult.) Moq., Caroxylon villosum (Delile) Akhani & Roalson
Ara. (Egypt): Sha’aran.
Highly variable shrub, 25-80 cm in height. Woody and very ramose at the base, with herbaceous young branches, yellowish-villous, which turn glabrous and hardened with age. Lower leaves 0.4-1.2 cm, alternate, narrowly triangular to linear-subulate, slightly clasping at the base, villous, with denticulate hairs. Upper leaves 1-4 mm, tightly arranged, imbricate, triangular, pubescent, with appressed hairs. Flowers solitary in loose or dense spikes; bracts suborbicular, keeled, with scarious margin; perianth segments connivent, pubescent, with scarious margin. Fruit perianth with yellow to straw-coloured wings, 0.8-1.2 cm including the wings, which sometimes have purple or brownish venation.
Flowering:
In general, after the rains in the Sahara.
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Stony substrates along dry river beds in limestone or volcanic rocks.
Distribution:
Southern Sahara, to the N up to the Mediterranean in Egypt. Central-western Asia, to the E up to India.
Conservation status:
A fairly rare species 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.