Annual, 10-30(50) x 3-15(20) cm, erect, primary stem usually dominant; living plants fresh to dark green, turning brown when dried, only the youngest growth sometimes slightly blackish; glabrous. Stem at base unbranched or with several long vegetative laterals, all terminating in long and dense spikes, higher up with numerous dense spike-like generative laterals, most of them with the same length of 2-5 cm, ascending; young axes with alternating green and pale or reddish lines, later uniformly yellowish, delicately striate. Leaves flat to almost semi-terete, moderately to strongly succulent, 5-15(25) x (0.7)1-1.5 mm, sessile, acute or acuminate, ascending, with C3 anatomy. Bracts linear to narrowly ovate, acuminate to mucronate, incurved, the uppermost broadly ovate and mucronate, always longer than flower clusters. Bracteoles 0.5-1 mm long, very variable in shape, mostly narrowly ovate, acuminate, subentire or eroso-dentate. Glomerules 1-3-flowered, axillary, very densely arranged. Flowers mostly perfect, protandrous, ± globular, 0.5-0.8 mm in diameter; the basal hilum almost centric; tepals scarcely succulent, fused for 1/2, the lobes flat, green, with wide hyaline margins, at apex often slightly lobed, not cucullate. Stamens 5, filaments only 0.1-0.2 mm long, not elongating, inserted at ca.1/2 of tepal length; anthers c. 0.2 x 0.25-0.3 mm divided for 1/2-2/3. Ovary superior, depressed ovoid; stigmas 0.1-0.15 mm long, straight or slightly recurved, with short papillae. Fruiting perianth enlarged, 1.0-2 mm in diameter, disc-shaped, the tepal lobes firmly appressed to the fruit and covering it except for the apical part with the persistent stigmas, usually the tepals near base with a narrow or wider transverse wing-like outgrowth, the individual wings often ±fused. Seeds horizontal, 0.9-1.25 mmm long, 0,8-1 mm wide, 05-0.7 mm thick, strongly flattened; beak short, incurved; testa chestnut-coloured to blackish, somewhat shining, distinctly sculptured.

Fl. Per.: September.

Lectotype: [Kazakhstan] “In argilloso-salsis inter fl. Kurtschum et lacum Noor-Sayssan”, Karelin & Kiriloff 996. VIII. 1840, ex hb. Fischer (LE!).

Salt-marshes around small salty lakes and saline zones along irrigation ditches, in Pakistan known from c. 1800-2500 m, but from nearby Pamir mentioned to occur up to 3000 m; Distribution: From the lower course of river Volga through the countries of the former Soviet Middle Asia up to Gansu and Ningxia provinces in N Central China; southwards through N and E Afghanistan down to Upper Baluchistan.

Irano-Turanian.

This species is recorded here for the first time, but with some hesitation. It was indicated for Afghanistan by Kitamura (1960, 1962) and Podlech (1973), but not included by Akhani & Podlech (1997) in Flora Iranica. Instead, several specimens of S. heterophylla from Afghanistan known to me were cited there under S. maritima L., a species restricted to Europe. S. heterophylla differs by the following characters: internodes of inflorescence very short, upper leaves and bracts mucronate, fruiting tepals with transversal wings, seeds small and distinctly sculptured.

However, the identification of the specimens from Pakistan is less certain because all of them -in contrast to the specimens from Afghanistan, have less prominent tepal wings and thereby approach to S. prostrata Pall. As most available material has been collected in flowering or early fruiting stage with the wings not yet well developed, more material is needed for confirmation.