SALSOLA KALI

Family:- AMARANTHACEAE

Common Names:- Prickly saltwort

Synonyms:- Kali soda Moench, Salsola acicularis, Salsola decumbens,

Salsola kali var. hirta, Salsola kali var. vulgaris.

Meaning:- Salsola (L) Salt, A name used by the Italian physician and botanist

Andrea Cesalpino.

Kali (L) Reference to the ashes of saltworts being alkaline, cognate

with Kalium (Potassium).

General description:- Erect or diffuse, annual usually with with stiff bristly hairs

(hispid), green.

Stems:-

a) up to 60 cm.

b) with short hairs.

c) covered in white and purple or white and green ridges.

Leaves:-

a) alternate.

b) simple, narrow, cylindrical.

c) untoothed, finished with a short thorn.

Flowers:-

a) green, tinted with rose or white.

b) solitary or joined together in 2-3 in spikes exceeded by the foliaceous bracts.

1) Bracts:

a) leaf-like (foliaceous), shorter than the leaves.

2) Perianth:

a) with 5 tepals fused with each other in their lower part, carrying on the back a

membranous, sometimes very small wing.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes:

a) membranous. completely surrounded by the perianth.

Key features:-

1) Leaves not club-shaped (clavate).

2) Leaves spine-tipped, ending abruptly in a very short, stiff straight point

(mucronate) or narrowing gradually to a point (acuminate).

3) Perianth-segments rigid, mucronulate, mid-vein distinct; not spongy and inflated

in fruit.

4) Plant densely covered with brittle bristles.

5) Bracts ± patent.

Habitat:- Sandy and rocky shores, coastal saltmarshes, sometimes in ?eld

margins and ruderal habitats up to 850 m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, mostly in coastal habitats. - Widespread in

Europe, N Africa and SW to C Asia, commonly naturalized elsewhere. Widespread

around the coastal areas of Crete.

Flowering time:- June-Sept.

Photos by:- Steve Lentons.