Salsola hyssopifolia Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich 1: 491, plate 2, fig. 1. 1771; Echinopsilon hyssopifolium (Pallas) Moquin-Tandon

Plants 5-100 cm. Stems divari-cately branched or simple. Leaves sessile (or sometimes narrowed into pseudopetiole); blade lanceolate-elliptic, lanceolate, or linear, flat, base cuneate. Inflorescences with ± straight axes. Perianth segments with thin, hooked spine adaxially at maturity. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Saline habitats, coastal dunes, salt marshes, disturbed habitats, roadsides, fields; 0-1200 m; introduced; Alta., B.C.; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mass., Mont., Nev., N.Mex., N.Y., Oreg., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; Eurasia (e Europe, arid regions of Asia).

Bassia hyssopifolia has been reported from southern Saskatchewan, but H. J. Scoggan (1978-1979, part 3) noted that this record possibly referred to Kochia scoparia (Linnaeus) Schrader. Putative hybrids between B. hyssopifolia and K. scoparia are reported from Utah (S. L. Welsh 1984). Such hybridization is extremely interesting because it has not been reported within the native ranges of those species in Eurasia. I have seen only one specimen that might represent such a hybrid. Its general habit resembles Bassia (including pubescent leaves), but its perianth segments are very variable, with winglike, conic, or almost spinescent appendages.