barbwire Russian thistle
Salsola paulsenii Litv.
Salsola paulsenii, known as barbwire Russian thistle, is a flowering plant in the Chenopodiaceae family. Native to Eurasia, it has been introduced to the American Southwest, where it often grows in sandy, disturbed habitats. This annual herb forms a brambly clump with intricately branched, prostrate to erect stems up to a meter long. The reddish stems bear yellow-green, thready, spine-tipped leaves, and the inflorescence features a series of flowers in leaf axils, each surrounded by winged sepals with whitish tips and pinkish bases.
Description
Salsola paulsenii is an annual herb that grows in a clump with prostrate to erect stems, reaching up to one meter in length. The stems are reddish and bear yellow-green, spine-tipped leaves, which can be a few millimeters to three centimeters long. The plant's inflorescence consists of an interrupted series of flowers, with each flower located in a leaf axil. The flowers are surrounded by wide, winged sepals that are whitish at the tips and pinkish at the bases. Native to Eurasia, it is now found in the American Southwest and is considered a weed in sandy, disturbed habitats. It was first described in 1905 and is distributed across regions including Afghanistan, China, Russia, and the United States.
Other common names
barbwire Russian thistle
Distribution
Afghanistan · Arizona · California · China North-Central · Colorado · East European Russia · Inner Mongolia · Iran · Kazakhstan · Kirgizstan · Mexico Northeast · Mongolia · Nevada · New Mexico · North Caucasus · Qinghai · South European Russi · Tadzhikistan · Texas · Transcaucasus · Turkmenistan · Utah · Uzbekistan · Xinjiang