Interesting Facts
Description
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]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
)
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
)
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
)
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
)
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
)
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
)
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Dilleniidae
(
)
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Violanae
(
)
- R. Dahlgren Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
)
- Perleb, 1826
- Family:
Tamaricaceae
(
)
- Link, 1821
- tamarisk
- Genus:
Tamarix
(
)
- C. Linnaeus, 1753
- Tamarisk
- Specific epithet:
gallica
- Subspecies:
mannifera
- Botanical name: - Tamarix gallica mannifera
- Subspecies:
mannifera
- Specific epithet:
gallica
- Genus:
Tamarix
(
- Family:
Tamaricaceae
(
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
- Superorder:
Violanae
(
- Subclass:
Dilleniidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
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
- Pharmacographia: a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury. London: Macmillan, 1879. url p. 800.
- Science-gossip. Berlin: R. Friedländer & Sohn, [1894]-1902. url p. 229.
- The horticulturist: or, the culture and management of the kitchen, fruit, & forcing garden / by J.C. Loudon; edited and revised by William Robinson. London: F. Warne, [1871] url p. 57.
- The natural history of plants, their forms, growth, reproduction, and distribution; Dublin, Blackie & son, limited, 1902. url .
- The natural history of plants; their forms, growth, reproduction, and distribution. From the German of Anton Kerner von Marilaun by F. W. Oliver, with the assistance of Marian Busk and Mary F. Ewart. London, Blackie, 1894-1895. url p. 812.
- The suburban horticulturist; or, An attempt to teach the science and practice of the culture and management of the kitchen, fruit, & forcing garden to those who have had no previous knowledge or practice in these departments of g By J.C. Loudon. .. illustrated with numerous engravings on wood. London, William Smith, 1842. url p. 105.
- Zhang Pengyun & Zhang Yaojia. 1990. Tamaricaceae. In: Li Hsiwen, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 50(2): 142-177.
- Zhang Pengyun & Zhang Yaojia. 1990. Tamaricaceae. In: Li Hsiwen, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 50(2): 142-177.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3392997
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 4120300
Footnotes
- 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]
- "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]
