18. Salsola sclerantha C. A. Mey. in Eichw., Pl. Nov. 2: 35. 1835; (Pl. 27) Iljin in Fl. SSSR 6: 257. 1936; Kitamura, Fl. Afgh. 105. 1960; Soskov iln Ovcz., Fl. Tadzh. SSR 3: 398. 1968; Pratov in Consp. Fl. As. Med. 3: 92. 1968; Botsch. In Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 6: 62. 1969; Czerepan., Vasc. Pl. Russia States, 188. 1995; Freitag in Rech.f., Fl. Iran. 172: 226. 1997. (Figs. 26, B; 29, C).
S. implicata Botsch. in Bot. Mat. Gerb. Inst. Bot. Akad. Nauk Uzbek. SSR. 13: 6. 1952; Grubov, Pl. As. Centr. 2: 93. 1966; Pratov in Consp. Fl. As. Med. 3: 91. 1968; Botsch. in Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 6: 620. 1969; Li in Fl. Reip. Pop. Sin. 25,2: 168. 1979; Liu in Fl. Desert. Reip. Pop. Sin. 1: 365. 1985; Freitag in Ali & Ghaffar (eds.), Pl. Life S Asia 85. 1991; Mao in Fl. Xinjiang. 2,1: 93. 1994.
Very similar to large-flowered forms of S. turkestanica but differing in: Lower leves wider, 0.75-1.2 mm. Tepals larger, 3-3.5 mm long, the outer 1.4-1.7 mm wide. Anthers 1.3-1.8 mm long. Stigmas 1-1.5 mm long. Fruit 8-12 mm diam., the wings free or overlapping with outer parts, wedge- to broadly fan-shaped, their base narrow with parallel to slightly divergent margins, in lower half concave, keel absent or present only on the narrower inner tepals (comp. also fig. 29, D & C).
Fl. Per.: June-September.
Lectotype: [Turkmenistan] Meerbusen Balchasch, auf der Insel Dagada, bei Krasnowodsk, VIII/IX. 1825, K.E. von Eichwald (LE!), iso- or syn: Balchanischer Meerbusen, Eichwald 157, (HAL!); Turkmenisches Ufer, Eichwald (HAL!). Freitag, l.c. 1997.
Obligate psammophyte; on semi-stabilized sand dunes from ca. 700-1200 m; Distribution: From the Caspian lowlands east to W. China, southwards to E. Iran, S.Afghanistan and N.Pakistani Baluchistan.
Irano-Turanian.
