Key to Salsola

View taxon page for Salsola

(For a list of species in Salsola, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Shrub; leaves 3–9 mm, not reduced upward, 

oblong 

Longer than wide, with nearly parallel sides; wider than linear.

to 

ovate 

Egg-shaped (i.e., widest below the middle) in two dimensions (i.e., in one plane), as a leaf.

, generally 

puberulent 

Minutely hairy.

..... S. damascena

1' Annual; leaves 5–55 mm, generally reduced upward, thread-like to 

lanceolate 

Narrowly elongate, widest in the basal half, often tapered to an acute tip.

, glabrous to hairy or papillate.

2. Plant strongly fleshy in fruit; sepal wings in fruit ± tubercled, thickened, rudimentary; 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

and 

bract 

Reduced, leaf- or scale-like structure subtending a branch, cone scale, peduncle, pedicel, or flower.

narrowed abruptly to short-pointed tip; stem glabrous ..... S. soda

2' Plant not or ± fleshy in fruit; sepal wings in fruit thin, membranous, well developed on at least some fruits; leaf and bract tips narrowed gradually to sharp spine; stem glabrous to bristly, papillate-hairy, or with mixed hair types

3. Stem papillate-hairy or with mixed hair types

4. Sepals 5, generally all winged, sepal tips in fruit soft to spiny; stem hairs mixed bristly- and papillate-hairy, or papillate-hairy only; bract 

wing 

1. Thin, flat extension or appendage of a surface or margin. 2. In many members of Fabaceae and in some other groups, each of two lateral petals.

0.3–0.6 mm ..... S. gobicola (2)

4' Sepals 5, 3 segments generally winged, 2 rudimentary to ± narrowly winged, sepal tips in fruit hardened into sharp 3–5-parted spine; stem hairs 

papillate 

Pertaining to a surface (e.g., of a leaf, stigma, fruit) bearing small, rounded or conic protuberances (papillae).

; bract wing generally < 0.3 mm or 0 ..... S. paulsenii

3' Stem glabrous to bristly, bristles occasionally few or short

5. Smallest 2 sepal wings fan-shaped to broadly obovate, length 1–2 × width; anthers <= 0.7 mm ..... S. australis

5' Smallest 2 sepal wings oblong, spoon-shaped, lanceolate, 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

, or rudimentary, generally not ± fan-shaped, length > 3 × width; anthers >= 0.6 mm

6. Bract wing narrow, 0.3–0.6 mm, opaque-white to ± translucent, base not surrounding fruit; sepal wings ± translucent, smallest 2 narrowly oblanceolate to linear, or 1 (both) rudimentary ..... S. gobicola (2)

6' Bract wing broad, generally > 0.4 mm, ± translucent, base surrounding fruit; sepal wings opaque to translucent, smallest 2 narrowly winged

7. Smallest 2 sepal wings narrower at base, broadened gradually or sharply to generally rounded tips; stem hairs sparse, short; anthers 0.6–0.9 mm ..... S. ryanii

7' Smallest 2 sepal wings with ± parallel sides, tip unevenly lobed, or wing linear and tip ± 

truncate 

Abruptly (not gradually) narrower or smaller at base or tip, as if cut straight across or nearly so.

; stem glabrous to bristly; anthers 0.6–1.3 mm ..... S. tragus

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