''Haloxylon'' is a genus of shrubs or small trees, belonging to the plant

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

. ''Haloxylon'' and its species are known by the common name saxaul. "Saksaul" is a common Turkic word that entered Russian through Kazakh.

Description

The species of genus ''Haloxylon'' are shrubs or small trees (rarely up to ) tall, with a thick trunk and many branches. The branches of the current year are green, from erect to pendant. The leaves are reduced to small scales. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s are short shoots borne on the stems of the previous year. The flowers are very small, as long or shorter than the bracteoles, bisexual or male. The two stigmas are very short. In fruit, the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

segments develop spreading wings. The fruit with wings is about in diameter. The seed is about in diameter.

Distribution and habitat

The genus ''Haloxylon'' is distributed in southwest and Central Asia, from Egypt to Mongolia and China (

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

and

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

), where it grows in sandy habitats (

psammophyte A psammophyte is a plant that grows in sandy and often unstable soils. Psammophytes are commonly found growing on beaches, deserts, and sand dunes. Because they thrive in these challenging or inhospitable habitats, psammophytes are considered extr ...

Taxonomy

The genus name ''Haloxylon'' was published by Alexander Bunge (ex

Eduard Fenzl Eduard Fenzl (1808, in Krummnußbaum – 1879, in Vienna) was an Austrian botanist. Life and contributions An obituary notes " ewas Professor of Botany and Director of the Imperial Botanical Cabinet, a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, ...

) in 1851, with the type species '' Haloxylon ammodendron''; it belongs to the subfamily Salsoloideae in the family

and ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' includes:Plants of the World Online: ''Haloxylon'' Bunge ex Fenzl (retrieved 5 March 2024)
/ref> # '' Haloxylon ammodendron'' – black saxaul # '' Haloxylon gracile'' # '' Haloxylon griffithii'' # '' Haloxylon multiflorum'' # '' Haloxylon negevensis'' # '' Haloxylon persicum'' – white saxaul # '' Haloxylon salicornicum'' # '' Haloxylon schmittianum'' # '' Haloxylon scoparium'' # '' Haloxylon tamariscifolium'' # '' Haloxylon thomsonii'' Phylogenetic research revealed that several species formerly included in ''Haloxylon'' are not related to this genus. They are now classified to genus '' Hammada''; the former ''Haloxylon stocksii'' (syn. ''Haloxylon recurvum'') has been moved to '' Soda stocksii''. The common name ''saxaul'', sometimes ''sacsaoul'' or ''saksaul'', comes from the Russian ''саксаул'' (''saksaul''), which is from Kazakh ''сексеуiл'' (''seksewil'').

Ecology

In the deserts of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, a large number of birds are associated with saxaul, including the saxaul sparrow.

Uses

The trees are used by nomads across the steppes of Central Asia as firewood. In the former bed of the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea () was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by the 2010s. It was in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhst ...

, saxaul trees are being planted to stop the wind picking up contaminated sand from the dried up sea bed and spreading them through the atmosphere. The plan is to cover the entire former bed with a forest.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae genera Taxa named by Eduard Fenzl