''Anabasis aphylla'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae ( ) is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus '' Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, maki ...

, native to the region surrounding the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, and Xinjiang and western Gansu provinces of China. A many-branched shrub usually found growing in alluvial fans and dune swales, it is sometimes planted to catch blowing soil and stabilize sand dunes. The alkaloid

anabasine Anabasine is a pyridine and piperidine alkaloid found in the tree tobacco ('' Nicotiana glauca'') plant, as well as in tree tobacco's close relative the common tobacco plant ('' Nicotiana tabacum''). It is a structural isomer of, and chemically ...

was named for this toxic species, from which it was first isolated by Orechoff and Menschikoff in the year 1931. Anabasine was widely used as an insecticide in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

until 1970.

Anabaseine Anabaseine (3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2,3′-bipyridine) is an alkaloid toxin produced by ''Nemertines'' worms and ''Aphaenogaster'' ants. It is structurally similar to nicotine and anabasine. Similarly, it has been shown to act as an agonist on most ni ...

and anabasamine are other alkaloids found to exist in the plant.

References

Amaranthaceae Flora of South European Russia Flora of the Caucasus Flora of Iran Flora of Central Asia Flora of Xinjiang Flora of Gansu Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Amaranthaceae-stub