盐节木 yan jie mu

Salicornia strobilacea Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 1: 481. 1771.

Plants 20-40 cm tall. Stems branched from base; old branches nearly alternate, prostrate or ascending, brown-green, woody, bearing opposite, shortened, budlike, dwarf branchlets; young branchlets opposite, suberect, gray-green, jointed, glabrous. Leaves opposite, connate. Spikes borne on upper branches, decussate, 5-15 × 2-3 mm. Perianth with 2 lateral segments incurved, outline obdeltoid. Seed brown, ovoid or globose, 0.5-0.75 mm in diam., densely finely papillate. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Salt-lake shores, other moist saline-alkaline places. NW Gansu, Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (SE European part, SW Siberia); N Africa, SW Asia, SE Europe].