Halothamnus bottae

Halothamnus bottae

Halothamnus bottae is a plant of the genus Halothamnus from the family of Amaranthaceae ( Amaranthaceae ).

Features

Halothamnus bottae is a 30-50 cm tall shrub with thorny tapered blue green branches. The projecting obliquely leaves are triangular and only 0.7-3 mm (rarely to 8 mm ) long. The flowers are 2.6 to 3.6 mm in size. The winged fruit reached 6-9 mm in diameter. Occur on the underside between the roundish - oval pits the central starting point (navel ) and radial nerve 5 clearly.

In the subspecies Halothamnus bottae ssp. niger, the plants in drying black, also the fruit wings are dark.

Fruits ( bottom ) of ssp. niger ( left) and ssp. bottae (right)

Occurrence

Halothamnus bottae is endemic in the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates). It grows in open bushland and semi-desert steppe to dry rocky locations from 0-2000 m above sea level. The subspecies ssp. niger is found only on the southern Arabian Peninsula, in hot, arid lowlands to 100 m above sea level ( like plants from East Africa are among Halothamnus somalensis ).

Use

In Oman Halothamnus is bottae dried used as snuff.

Taxonomy

The first description of Halothamnus bottae was made in 1845 by Hippolyte François Jaubert and Spach Édouard. Bottae synonyms for Halothamnus Jaub. & Spach are Caroxylon bottae ( Jaub. & Spach ) Moq. and Salsola bottae ( Jaub. & Spach ) Boiss.