Stem: young stems often +- pendent, slender, +- covered by leaves, hairy or glabrous. Leaf: small, awl- or scale-like, sessile, generally +- clasping stem, generally encrusted with excreted salt. Inflorescence: raceme or compound raceme on current or previous year's twigs; bract generally +- clasping. Flower: sepals 4--5, generally +- united at base, persistent; petals 4--5, free, deciduous to persistent, white, pink, red; stamens 4--5[15], free; nectary disk lobes 4--5[15], alternate or confluent with filaments; styles 3--4. Fruit: valves +- lanceolate. Seed: hairs in tuft at tip, > seed.
Species In Genus: +- 60 species: Eurasia, Africa. Etymology: (Latin: Tamaris River, Spain) Note: Invasive weeds with deep roots, especially along streams, irrigation canals. Most California species originally cultivated for ornament, windbreaks; some hybridize. Tamarix africana Poir. excluded.
Jepson eFlora Author: John F. Gaskin
Reference: Beauchamp et al. 2005 Pl & Soil 275:221--231
Unabridged Reference: Baum 1967 Baileya 15:19--25; Beauchamp et al. 2005 Pl & Soil 275 (1--2):221--231; Di Tomaso 1998 Weed Technology 12:326--336
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Key to Tamarix

List of species Tamarix aphylla Tamarix chinensis Tamarix gallica Tamarix parviflora Tamarix ramosissima

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