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Tamarix chinensis

(China Tamarisk)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

China Tamarisk, Chinese Saltcedar, Chinese Tamarisk, Five-Stamen Tamarisk, Fivestamen Tamarisk, Salt Cedar, Saltcedar, Tamarisk, Tamarix

Common Names in Informal Latinized N:

Tamarix

Common Names in Japanese:

Satuki-Guyoryû

Common Names in Korean:

Wisngryu

Common Names in unspecified:

China Tamarisk, Chinese Saltcedar, Chinese Tamarisk, Five-Stamen Tamarisk, Fivestamen Tamarisk, Saltcedar, Tamarisk, Tamarix

Description

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Family Tamaricaceae

Shrubs , subshrubs , or trees . Leaves small, mostly scale-like, alternate, estipulate, usually sessile, mostly with salt-secreting glands . Flowers usually in racemes or panicles, rarely solitary, usually hermaphroditic , regular. Calyx 4- or 5-fid, persistent . Petals 4 or 5, free , deciduous after anthesis or sometimes persistent. Disk inferior, usually thick, nectarylike. Stamens 4, 5, or more numerous , usually free, inserted on disk, rarely united into fascicle at base , or united up to half length into a tube . Anthers 2-thecate, longitudinally dehiscent . Pistil 1, consisting of 2-5 carpels; ovary superior, 1-loculed; placentation parietal , rarely septate , or basal; ovules numerous, rarely few; styles short, usually 2-5, free, sometimes united. Capsule conic, abaxially dehiscent. Seeds numerous, hairy throughout or awned at apex; awns puberulous from base or from middle ; endosperm present or absent; embryo orthotropous .

Three genera and ca. 110 species: steppe and desert regions of the Old World; three genera and 32 species (12 endemic) in China.

Myrtama has been placed alternatively in Myricaria, Tamarix, or treated as a separate genus (see Gaskin et al. , Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 91: 402-410. 2004; Zhang et al., Acta Bot. Boreal.-Occid. Sin. 20: 421-431. 2000) .[1]

Genus Tamarix

Shrubs or trees , much branched. Young branches usually glabrous ; two types of branches present: ligneous growing branches, not deciduous in winter vs. green vegetative branchlets , deciduous in winter. Leaves alternate, sessile, amplexicaul or vaginate , small, scale-like, glabrous, rarely hairy , mostly with salt-secreting glands . Flowers in racemes or panicles, blooming in spring ; racemes lateral on growing branches of previous or current year and clustered in terminal panicles, or two types of flowering habits present in some species. Flowers bisexual , rarely unisexual , 4- or 5(or 6) -merous, usually pedicellate ; bract 1. Calyx herbaceous or fleshy , 4- or 5-fid; lobes entire or faintly denticulate . Petals as many as calyx lobes, deciduous or persistent after anthesis . Disk variously shaped, mostly 4- or 5-lobed; lobes entire, or apex retuse or even deeply divided . Stamens 4 or 5, opposite to calyx lobes, or numerous , outer series opposite to calyx lobes; filaments often free , inserted between lobes of disk or at apices of lobes; anthers cordate, versatile, 2-thecate, longitudinally dehiscent . Pistil consisting of 3 or 4 carpels; ovary mostly conic, many seeded; placentation basal-parietal; styles 3 or 4; stigmas capitate, short. Capsule conic, abaxially 3-septicidal. Seeds numerous, minute; apical awns villous .

About 90 species: Africa, Asia, Europe; 18 species (seven endemic) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Species Tamarix chinensis

Trees or shrubs , 3-6(-8) m tall. Branchlets dense, often pendulous, red-purple, slender. Leaves green, those of vegetative branches slightly spreading , oblong-lanceolate or narrowly ovate , 1.5-1.8 mm, abaxially carinate at base , often thinly membranous, apex acute; those of vegetative branches in upper part subulate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-3 mm, abaxially carinate, base attenuate, apex acuminate, incurved . Flowers blooming 2 or 3 times each year. When blooming in spring , racemes lateral in pendulous, ligneous , growing branchlets of previous year, 3-6 cm × 5-7 mm, few flowered, lax , and pendulous; peduncles short or nearly absent, with or without bracts; bracts linear-oblong or oblong , equaling or slightly exceeding pedicels, apex acuminate; pedicels shorter than calyx, slender; flowers 5-merous; sepals 5, narrowly ovate, 0.8-1.3 mm, slightly shorter than petals, outer 2 carinate abaxially, margin slightly entire, apex mucronate ; petals 5, pink, usually ovate-elliptic or elliptic-obovate, rarely obovate , ca. 2 mm, slightly exceeding calyx, persistent in fruit; disk purple-red, fleshy , 5-fid; lobes obtuse or retuse at apex; stamens 5, exceeding petals; filaments inserted between disk lobes; ovary conic; styles 3, clavate , ca. 1/2 as long as ovary. Capsule conic. When blooming in summer and autumn, racemes 3-5 cm, smaller than those in spring, forming terminal large panicles on branches of current year; flowers 5-merous, slightly smaller than those in spring, dense; bracts green, linear to linear-conic or narrowly triangular, smaller and narrower than those of spring flowers, longer than pedicels, abaxially raised at base, base attenuate, margin entire, apex acuminate; calyx triangular-ovate; petals pink, straight or slightly oblique outward, much exceeding calyx; disk 5-lobed, or subdivided into 10 lobules ; stamens 5, equaling or ca. 2 × as long as petals; anthers obtuse; filaments inserted between disk lobes; styles clavate, 2/5-3/4 as long as ovary. Fl. Apr-Sep. 2n = 24*. [source]

Habit: Tree , Shrub

Flowers: Flower Color: near white, pale pink, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-15' tall.

Habitat

Plains along rivers , seashores, moist salty places, sandy places [3].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 20-30' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 7.9 • Maximum pH: .1

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Tamarix Gallica Chinensis • Tamarix juniperina Bunge. • Tamarix pentandra Pallas

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Tamarix

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 15 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

T. africana (African Tamarisk) · T. aphylla (Athel) · T. aralensis (Russian Tamarisk) · T. canariensis (Canary Island Tamarisk) · T. chinensis (China Tamarisk) · T. dioica (Saltcedar) · T. gallica (French Tamarisk) · T. parviflora (Saltcedar) · T. ramosissima (Five-Stamen Tamarix) · T. ramosissima 'Pink Cascade' (Five-Stamen Tamarix) · T. ramosissima 'Rosea' (Salt Cedar) · T. ramosissima 'Rubra' (Five-Stamen Tamarix) · T. ramosissima 'Summer Glow' (Five-Stamen Tamarix) · T. tetragyna (Saltcedar) · T. tetranda 'Hulsdonk White' (Four-Stamen Tamarisk 'hulsdonk White')

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 14, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Qiner Yang & John Gaskin "Tamaricaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 58. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Tamarix". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 58, 59, 434. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Tamarix chinensis". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 60, 63. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012