密刺沙拐枣 mi ci sha guai zao

Shrubs 1-2 m tall. Old branches light gray or yellow-gray, slightly twisted; herbaceous branchlets of current year gray-green; joints 1-5 cm. Leaves scale-like, 1-2 mm. Pedicel 2-4 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers usually 2-4, at leaf axil, small. Perianth reflexed in fruit, broadly ovate. Fruit globose or subglobose, 1-2 mm in diam. Achenes coniform, coiled, apex acute, prominently ribbed with 2 row wings; wings 2-3 mm wide, somewhat stiff, with bristles at margin; bristles dense, flat, somewhat stiff, forked at middle, slender at apices, including achenes. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 18*.

Semimobile sand dunes; ca. 600 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan].