''Caroxylon imbricatum'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

''Salsola imbricata'', is a small

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of shrub in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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, making i ...

. It grows in deserts and arid regions of north Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Asia.

Description

''Caroxylon imbricatum'' is a small, spreading shrub or sub-shrub growing up to tall. The grey or reddish stems are up to thick and these and the lower leaves are densely hairy. In the upper parts of the plant the stems are creamy or pale grey and branch frequently, some branches growing vertically while others spread horizontally. Regularly-arranged, catkin-like branchlets project from the branches. The leaves are tiny, succulent and linear or narrowly triangular. The inflorescence is spike-like with bracts similar to the leaves, small flowers with five petals, five stamens and two styles. The fruiting perianth has silky wings.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1775 as ''Salsola imbricata'' by the Swedish naturalist

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Early ...

. In 1849,

Alfred Moquin-Tandon Christian Horace Benedict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (7 May 1804 – 15 April 1863) was a French naturalist and doctor. Moquin-Tandon was professor of zoology at Marseille from 1829 until 1833, when he was appointed professor of botany and director of ...

transferred it to the genus ''

Caroxylon ''Caroxylon'' is a genus of shrubby flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae, found in drier areas of the Old World, including southern Africa, Madagascar, northern Africa, Mediterranean islands of Europe, the Canary Islands, Socotra, Ukraine ...

'', making it ''Caroxylon imbricatum'' (Forssk.) Moq., but later it was mostly accepted in genus ''Salsola''. Following a phylogenetic analysis of Salsoloideae in 2007 by Akhani, H., et al., it has been proposed to place ''Salsola imbricata'' back into ''Caroxylon imbricatum''. This placement is accepted by GBIF and

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...

Distribution and habitat

This plant has a widespread distribution across the desert belt of Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, southern Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and northwestern India. It typically grows in disturbed areas such as runnels, washes, dry wadis, eroded slopes and coastal cliffs. It grows on various soil types and is a

ruderal species A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example, wildfires or avalanchesor the consequences of human activities, such as construction ( of roads, of buildings, mining, et ...

, colonising

fallow land Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting pest life cycl ...

and over-grazed pastures.

Ecology

''Caroxylon imbricatum'' is a

halophytic A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. ...

plant; under conditions of salt stress, the plant increases its water content (becomes more succulent) and decreases the surface area of its leaves. Tests on the germination rates of seeds show that ''Caroxylon imbricatum'' sprouts more quickly and consistently at 20 °C than at higher temperatures, and shows higher germination rates at lower salinity levels than high ones. However, seeds treated at high salinity levels recovered their germination potential after immersion in unsalted water. The species has traditionally been used as a

vermifuge Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. They may ...

and for treating certain skin disorders. Five

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squal ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycoside ...

s have been isolated from the roots of ''Caroxylon imbricatum'', two of them being new glycoside derivatives not previously known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17246081, from2=Q12213843 Amaranthaceae Desert flora Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of North Africa