Relatives
Calligonum rubescens Mattei - Rubescent Calligonum.
Taxonomic position.
Family Polygonaceae Juss. genus Calligonum L.Morphology and biology.
Shrub 1-1.5 m tall with tap root. Old branches broken-flexuous at angle of (45)60-80°, with light grey bark. Herbaceous shoots glabrous. Leaves shortened, 1.5-2 mm long, dryish. Flowers in (3)4-6 in sheath axils. Pedicels glabrous. Perianth white or red, glabrous. Stamens 10, with dark red anthers. Fruits 12-22 mm diameter, sparsely or densely covered with bristles, yellow or red. Wings 2-crested, bristles on wings dense or sparse, 5-8(10) mm long, thin, but not capillate, 3-4 times branched, very intertangled. twisted by angle 60-90°, with obtuse, widely distant ribs. Flowers in April - May, fruits in May - June. 2n=18.Distribution.
Central Asia; Iran, Afghanistan, Northwestern China.Ecology.
Occurs in psammophytic-shruby and saxaul typical sandy and shingle-sandy deserts in depressions between ridges, eroded ridgy-hillocky sands and barkhans, on sand alluvia of upper terraces of river valleys and tugai, on foothill shingle-sandy outskirts.Use and economic value.
Land-improving plant.References:
Sokolov SI., Svjaseva OA., Kubli VA. 1980. Ranges of trees and shrubs of the USSR. V.2. Leningrad: Nauka. 144 p. (In Russian).Soskov YuD. 1988. The genus Calligonum L. (systematics, geography, evolution). Thesis Doct. Biol. Sci. Leningrad. 472 p. (In Russian).