1. Halocharis hispida (Schrenk ex C. A. Mey.) Bunge in Mem. Acad. Imp. Sc. Petersb. 7, sér. 4. 11: 62. t.1. fig.1. 1862; Boiss., Fl. Or. 4: 974. 1879; Kom., l.c. 327. pl. 14. fig. 7a-b; Stewart, l.c. 222 (partly).
Halimocnemis hispida Schrenk ex C.A. Mey. in Bull. Cl. Phys.-math. Acad. Petersb. 1: 360. 1843; H. hispida var. divaricata Iljin in Not. Syst. Leningrad 11: 80. 1949.
Annual to 30 (-50) cm, bushy, hispid,. Leaves filiform, terete obtuse, 2-5 mm long, dilated at base. all leaves covered with long, articulate spreading bristles, at apex with spreading bristles and sometimes with short hairs. Flowers solitary, axillary, spicate on short terminal branches; bracteoles c. long as flowers; fruiting perianth 4-6 mm long, segments oblong to oblong-oval or lanceolate, obtusely truncate or crenate, rarely subacute, in upper part glabrous, in lower part with long flexuose hairs; appendages of anthers variable, lanceolate, yellowish, sessile, acuminate, somewhat inflated, minutely scabrous-aculeate, shorter than the anther lobes; stigmas filiform, nearly as long as the style, rounded at tips. Fruit c. 2 mm long, olivaceous-brown, glabrous.
Fl. Per.: June-September.
Type: Kazakhistan. Described from the Chu river: In salsis deserti Songrici occidentalioris ad fluvium Tschu, 2.vii.1843 leg. A. Schrenk (LE).
Distribution: C. Asia, Iran and Pakistan.
Filiform leaves and sessile acute anther appendages are distinctive. H. afghanica Iljin (l.c., 80) very similar to this but plants longer with 10-15 mm long linear fleshy leaves and smaller flowers, may also occur within our area; in Fl. Iranica (Hedge, l.c. 335), it was regarded as not different from H. hispida.