Nitrosalsola nitraria (Pallas) Tzvelev.

Herbs annual, 10-40 cm tall. Stem branched from base; lower branches subopposite, pubescent and sparsely villous. Leaves semiterete, 0.8-1.5 cm × 1-1.5 mm, sparsely villous, deciduous in fruit, base slightly expanded, apex obtuse. Inflorescence spicate-paniculate; bracts broadly ovate, margin membranous, nearly equaling bractlets; bractlets suborbicular, slightly shorter than perianth. Perianth (including wings) 7-9 mm in diam. in fruit; segments narrowly ovate or lanceolate, green, abaxially nearly fleshy and winged from distal middle part in fruit, margin membranous, not ciliate or only apex ciliate; portion of segment above wing connivent with others, tightly appressed to utricle, broadly triangular, glabrous; 3 wings yellow-brown or black-brown, broadly ovate or semiorbicular, larger, membranous, with fine, dense veins, margin colorless; other 2 wings broadly linear, smaller. Anthers ca. 1 mm. Stigmas filiform, nearly equaling style. Seed horizontal or oblique. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.

Gobi desert, dunes. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Pakistan; SW Asia, SE Europe (Lower Volga region of Russia)].