Halothamnus auriculus is a species of the plant genus Halothamnus

Halothamnus

Halothamnus is a genus of the former Chenopodiaceae that is now included into the family Amaranthaceae. The scientific name means saltbush, from the Greek ἅλς "salt" and θαμνος "bush"...

, that is now included into the family Amaranthaceae

Amaranthaceae

The flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth family, contains about 176 genera and 2,400 species.- Description :Most of these species are herbs or subshrubs; very few are trees or climbers. Some species are succulent....

, (formerly Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodiaceae were a family of flowering plants, also called the Goosefoot Family. They are now included within family Amaranthaceae. The vast majority of Chenopods are weeds, and many are salt and drought tolerant. A few food crops also belong to the family: spinach, beets, chard, quinoa, and...

).

Morphology

Halothamnus auriculus is a sub-shrub up to 90 cm high, with olive-grey or blueish-green pale-striate branches. The flat and slightly fleshy leaves are very variably shaped (lanceolate, triangular, ovate, cordate, kidney-shaped, or roundish), up to 68 mm long and 2,5-45 mm wide, with distinct membranous margins, often half-stem-clasping, the lower ones often decurrent, the upper ones often auriculate. The bract

Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...

s are similar to the leaves. The bracteoles are adpressed to the perianth

Perianth

The term perianth has two similar but separate meanings in botany:* In flowering plants, the perianth are the outer, sterile whorls of a flower...

, scale-like, surrounded by membranuos margins, shorter than perianth. The flowers are 3,4-1,7 mm long, the stigmas are widened and truncate at the apex. The winged fruit is 12-18 mm in diameter, their wings inserting in or above the middle. The tube of the fruit is broadly barrel-shaped, at its bottom with deep, furrow-like, linear or curved pits.
The subspecies ssp. acutifolius differs from ssp. auriculus by lanceolate, only 2,5-9 mm wide leaves, that are hardly clasping and not or very shortly decurrent, and by longer stigmas.

Distribution

The distribution area of Halothamnus auriculus covers northern Iran, Pakistan (Baluchistan), Afghanistan, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Usbekistan und Kirghistan. It grows in semideserts und dry shrubland on clay-gravel, often saline or gypsum soils from 500- 2550 m above sea-level.

Cultivation and uses

Halothamnus auriculus is a good fodder plant and is planted for recultivation of pasture.
In their leaves the plants accumulate boron

Boron

Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...

.

Taxonomy

Halothamnus auriculus (Moq.) Botsch., Bot. Žurn. 66,1: 134, 1981.
Synonyms for ssp. auriculus

• Salsola auricula Moq
• Caroxylon auriculum (Moq.) Moq.
• Aellenia auricula (Moq.) Ulbr
• Salsola moquiniana Jaub. & Spach
• Halothamnus moquinianus (Jaub. & Spach) Botsch

Synonyms for ssp. acutifolius (Moq.) Kothe-Heinr., 1993

• Salsola auricula Moq. ß. acutifolia Moq.,
• Salsola decurrens Jaub. & Spach
• Caroxylon acutifolium (Moq.) Moq., nom. illeg.
• Salsola acutifolia (Moq.) Bunge, nom. illeg.
• Halothamnus acutifolius (Moq.) Botsch., nom. illeg.

External links

• http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/view_large.cfm?SpecimenPK=84553&idThumb=281654&SpecimenSequenz=1&loan=0 Digital herbarium specimens from Herbarium Berlin
• Schweizerbart Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143 Webpage